The benchmark BSE Sensex was trading higher by over 200 points on hopes that the GST Council meeting today may provide some relief to exporters and MSMEs in terms of faster refunds and compliance.

The GST Council chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to announce on Friday a special package for micro, small and medium enterprises that will, among other things, address the concerns of exporters, as policymakers explore ways to fix an unexpected slowdown in economic growth.

The package comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while defending his government’s track record in managing the economy, said both demonetisation and the implementation of GST were structural reforms but that if “any sector needs temporary assistance” on account of these, “the government would” provide it. He specifically referred to exporters and small and medium enterprises.

At 11.25 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 213.40 points or 0.68 at 31,805.43 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ws up 77.6 points or 0.78 per cent at 9,966.30.

All BSE sectoral indices were trading in the positive zone. Among them, metal index gained the most by 2.59 per cent, PSU 1.52 per cent, infrastructure 1.39 per cent and power 1.36 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Tata Steel (+3.97%), NTPC (+2.69%), State Bank of India (+2.33%), Infosys (+1.69%) and Coal India (+1.34%), while the only three losers were HDFC (-0.5%), Dr Reddy's (-0.41%) and Hero MotoCorp (-0.38%).

Asian stocks were up after optimism over US tax reform plans lifted Wall Street shares to new highs, while the dollar hovered near a seven-week peak following additional indications of solid economic growth.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia–Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 per cent, poised for a 1.4 per cent gain on the week.