Old ITC Shares: What They Are Worth and How to Recover Them

How many ITC shares do you own today?

1. 1989, 1991, 1994Bonus issuesAsk the Investor Service Centre to confirm the ratios for your folio.
2. 2005Bonus issue and share splitFace value sub-divided from ₹10 to ₹1 in September 2005, so each share became ten.
3. 2010Bonus issue, 1:1One bonus share for every share held.
4. 2016Bonus issue, 1:2One bonus share for every two shares held.
5. 2025ITC Hotels demergerOne ITC Hotels share for every ten ITC shares. Record date 6 January 2025; ITC Hotels listed on 29 January 2025.

We haven't listed ratios for the earlier bonus issues because we haven't verified them. ITC's Investor Service Centre confirms the current holding on any folio.

Quick reference: what to multiply your certificate by

Find the row for when the shares were bought. The multiplier is what each share on the certificate has become since, counting only the corporate actions we have verified.

Counting only the 2005 sub-division, the 2010 bonus (1:1), the 2016 bonus (1:2) and the ITC Hotels demerger. ITC also made bonus issues in 1989, 1991, 1994 and 2005 whose ratios we have not verified, so a certificate from the 1980s or 1990s is worth more than this table shows. The ITC Investor Service Centre confirms the exact holding on a folio.

What to check on an old ITC certificate

• The name. Older certificates may read "Imperial Tobacco Company of India" or "India Tobacco Company". Both are today’s ITC Limited — the company was renamed, and a rename does not affect the shares.
• The face value. Certificates issued before September 2005 show ₹10; each of those shares became ten ₹1 shares.
• Folio number and certificate numbers, which the Investor Service Centre searches on.
• Whether it is ITC or ITC Hotels. ITC Hotels Limited listed separately in January 2025. An older certificate naming a hotels company is not the same entity — ask the ISC before assuming.

Your ITC Hotels entitlement, and why many families never received it

Shareholders on the register on 6 January 2025 were entitled to one ITC Hotels share for every ten ITC shares held. The shares were allotted on 11 January 2025 and listed on 29 January 2025.

For a physical folio with stale KYC, that entitlement often could not be credited. It is not forfeited. The ITC Investor Service Centre will tell you where it sits and what it needs — usually a demat account and an up-to-date folio.

Note that ITC runs its own registry rather than using an outside registrar, so everything goes to the Investor Service Centre in Kolkata rather than to KFintech or MUFG Intime.

Who is ITC’s registrar, and how do you contact them?

Registrars change. Confirm the current one on the company’s investor page before posting anything, and see how to find a company’s registrar.

How do you recover or sell old ITC shares?

• The shares are in your name and you have the certificates

  Update KYC on the folio if needed, then dematerialise them so they can be sold.

• The shareholder has died

  The nominee, surviving joint holder or legal heirs claim through transmission.

• You bought the shares on paper before April 2019

  SEBI's special window, open until 4 February 2027, lets you complete the transfer.

• The certificates are lost or damaged

  The registered holder or heirs apply for duplicates, credited to demat.

• The shares or dividends were transferred to IEPF

  Claim them back from the IEPF Authority with Form IEPF-5.

• The certificate is in an old or merged company name

  The holding may now sit with a renamed or successor company.

Questions we are asked about ITC shares

Sources

• ITC investor e-forms
• IEPF Authority