Shares of companies engaged in retail business have rallied on the bourses after a committee of secretaries (CoS) gave in-principle nod to 51% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
At present, India allows 100% FDI in cash & carry wholesale trade and 51% in single-brand retail like Nike and Louis Vuitton, but any such money in multi-brand retail is prohibited.
"However, CoS, headed by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth, was in favour of riders like minimum $100 million (around Rs 450 crore) FDI, at least half of which has to be invested in back-end infrastructure like cold storage, soil testing labs and seed farming," the newspaper report suggests.
Among the individual stocks, Pantaloon Retail, Shoppers Stop, Vishal Retail, Koutons Retail and Mudra Lifestyle are trading higher by 4-8% each on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).