Aviation, retail & cable stocks likely to zoom on FDI move

Stocks of aviation, retail and cable companies are likely to be on buyers' radar when the share market opens on Monday - the first day of trade after the government decided to open these sectors for overseas investors, experts said.

Late on Friday evening, the government allowed 51% foreign investment in multi-brand retail, 49% investment by foreign airlines in aviation and raised the FDI cap in broadcasting from 49%-74%. Many of the stocks from these sectors have already seen a rally in past few days on hopes of these decisions and the upmove is likely to continue on Monday, experts said.

Religare Securities' Rajesh Jain said: "Investors have factored in the FDI impact in the past few days trading but buying can be seen in retail, aviation and cable companies (on Monday as well)."

The FDI announcement is a very positive news for the entire market and stocks from retail, aviation and cable companies would move up as the FDI demands were finally met, said SMC Global Securities' Jagannadham Thunuguntla. Welcoming the decision allowing FDI in cable firms, Den Networks CEO S N Sharma said: "This will help consolidation in the sector and allow companies to invest in developing cutting edge products and services for the consumer."

"It will also allow cable companies to start investing aggressively in broadband infrastructure services and help evolve a healthier ecosystem for all stakeholders," he said. Analysts feel some stocks might log big gains on Monday. "Dalal Street would welcome this move in a big way. The government has finally delivered. Stocks were earlier moving higher on hopes of FDI and now that reforms have been announced, investors would cheer it. Retail, aviation and cable services stocks would specially hog the limelight," Unicon Financial Solutions CEO Gajendra Nagpal said.

Analysts at Edelweiss Research said the decision to allow FDI is expected to be positive for the Indian retail sector, as it will reduce piling debt and stimulate investments. "We believe that discretionary consumer goods and larger organised consumer players too will benefit as it will help increase consumption and prop volume growth," they said.

The government had last year allowed 51% FDI in multi-brand retail, but the same could not be implemented in the face of strong opposition from UPA allies, including Trinamool Congress.

The decision to allow foreign carriers to invest in domestic airlines would help cash-strapped carriers like Kingfisher to bring in strategic partners, experts said.

Similar could be the case for retail entities like Future Group's Pantaloon Retail, Provogue India and Koutons Retail.