diff --git a/lib/grunt/task.js b/lib/grunt/task.js
index 48aec3abf..ffd119eb0 100644
--- a/lib/grunt/task.js
+++ b/lib/grunt/task.js
@@ -370,7 +370,23 @@ task.loadTasks = function(tasksdir) {
 task.loadNpmTasks = function(name) {
   loadTasksMessage('"' + name + '" local Npm module');
   var root = path.resolve('node_modules');
-  var pkgfile = path.join(root, name, 'package.json');
+  var pkgpath = path.join(root, name);
+  var pkgfile = path.join(pkgpath, 'package.json');
+  // If package does not exist where grunt expects it to be,
+  // try to find it using Node's package path resolution mechanism
+  if (!grunt.file.exists(pkgpath)) {
+    var nameParts = name.split('/');
+    // In case name points to directory inside module,
+    // get real name of the module with respect to scope (if any)
+    var normailzedName = (name[0] === '@' ? nameParts.slice(0,2).join('/') : nameParts[0]);
+    try {
+      pkgfile = require.resolve(normailzedName + '/package.json');
+      root = pkgfile.substr(0, pkgfile.length - normailzedName.length - '/package.json'.length);
+    } catch (err) {
+      grunt.log.error('Local Npm module "' + normailzedName + '" not found. Is it installed?');
+      return;
+    }
+  }
   var pkg = grunt.file.exists(pkgfile) ? grunt.file.readJSON(pkgfile) : {keywords: []};
 
   // Process collection plugins.
diff --git a/test/fixtures/load-npm-tasks/test-package/package.json b/test/fixtures/load-npm-tasks/test-package/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8de3ba72d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/load-npm-tasks/test-package/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+  "private": true,
+  "name": "test-package",
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "grunt-foo-plugin": "1.0.0"
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/gruntfile/load-npm-tasks.js b/test/gruntfile/load-npm-tasks.js
index 078b3155a..c8e3c04d4 100644
--- a/test/gruntfile/load-npm-tasks.js
+++ b/test/gruntfile/load-npm-tasks.js
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ var Log = require('grunt-legacy-log').Log;
 var assert = require('assert');
 var through = require('through2');
 
-module.exports = function(grunt) {
-  grunt.file.setBase('../fixtures/load-npm-tasks');
+function test(grunt, fixture) {
+  grunt.file.setBase('../fixtures/' + fixture);
 
   // Create a custom log to assert output
   var stdout = [];
@@ -39,4 +39,11 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
       throw err;
     }
   });
+}
+
+module.exports = function(grunt) {
+  // NPM task package is inside $CWD/node_modules
+  test(grunt, 'load-npm-tasks');
+  // NPM task package hoisted to $CWD/../node_modules
+  test(grunt, 'load-npm-tasks/test-package');
 };