Shares of retail companies such as Shoppers Stop, Trent, Pantaloon India and Provogue rallied on Thursday in an otherwise muted session, after media reports indicated that the Government was likely to revive an order allowing foreign investors to own majority stakes in local supermarkets and department stores after July 19 presidential elections.
In December 2011, the Centre suspended its decision to allow overseas retailers to open supermarkets following protests by the opposition and few allies.
The move is being spearheaded by Union Commerce & Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who has been sounding out state governments and other stakeholders, to reach a consensus, according to a business newspaper.
At 1:00 pm (IST), Shoppers Stop was up ~10% at Rs 386 after being as high as Rs 392.
Pantaloon Retail India was up 4.5% at Rs 199.55 after touching a day's peak of Rs 203.20. Trent shares rose 8.7% to Rs 1,041 after touching a day's high of Rs 1,066.
Pantaloon is part of the Future Group and operates the Big Bazaar hypermarket chain while Shoppers Stop operates the Hypercity chain. Trent operates hypermarket by the name Star India Bazaar.