India Inc's January-April tally: $33.49 billion from 28 deals

Corporate India announced deals worth $1.96 billion in April through 28 transactions taking the year-to-date deal tally to $33.49 billion, says a Grant Thornton report.

According to the assurance, tax and advisory firm, M&A values nearly halved in April while volumes declined by 36 per cent due to the absence of domestic action which saw a ten- fold decline on a year-on-year basis.

Meanwhile, cross-border activity grew eight-fold supported by Flipkart's $1.4 billion investment round.

In the January-April period, there were 133 transactions worth $33.49 billion, registering a three-fold jump over the corresponding period last year when there were 168 transactions worth $11.52 billion.

"High-value transactions led to a nearly three-fold growth in M&A values - with two deals in the billion dollar club and 16 deals valued more than $100 million contributing to over 95 per cent of total M&A deal values put together," the report said.

Going forward, the deal outlook looks bullish, it added.

"...Indian corporates may also again start looking at outbound transactions due to the rupee getting stronger and debt funding being relatively easily available to fund foreign acquisitions," Grant Thornton India LLP Partner Prashant Mehra said.

Inbound transactions should continue to remain strong given the weak global markets, he added.