In India, shares of a little-known company soared after Modi gave a gift to the Italian prime minister

Shares of the Indian infrastructure company Parle Industries suddenly rose by 5%, hitting the daily trading limit on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

This was reported by the Times of India.

Thank you for the gift pic.twitter.com/7ePxbJwPbA

— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) May 20, 2026

The financial surge occurred due to a curious mistake by investors, who en masse confused the firm with the private confectionery giant Parle Products—the manufacturer of the popular Melody toffee. The latter instantly gained worldwide popularity on social media after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially presented a box of these sweets to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, alluding to the viral internet hashtag #Melodi.

The mistaken hype turned out to be extremely profitable for Parle Industries—a tiny company with a market capitalization of less than $3 million and a staff of nine employees, whose shares had plummeted by 40% since the start of the year. While retail traders were actively snapping up the wrong stock, the actual confectionery manufacturer, Parle Products—which isn’t publicly traded at all—officially thanked the head of government for the unique free advertising of a national product and stated that it now expects massive growth in global sales across 100 countries.

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