Tesco plans India's first foreign supermarket investment

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Tesco Plc has applied to invest in Trent Hypermarket Ltd , the British retailer said on Tuesday, making it the first foreign investor in India's multi-brand retail sector.

The world's third largest retailer made an application to India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board and plans to invest $110 million, an official at the trade ministry said.

A statement from the Trent said Tesco wanted approval to buy a 50 percent stake in the company, which operates its Star Bazaar hypermarket chain in the western state of Maharashtra and neighbouring Karnataka.

The decision brings much-needed relief to the government, which allowed foreign investors in India's supermarket sector in September 2012 but had failed to see a single application until now.

 

Trent is a unit of India's Tata Group.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)