Banks, especially large public sector lenders such as State Bank of India and Bank of India, have begun seeking legal advice on reviving acquisition financing in the domestic market, following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) release of its final prudential guidelines on acquisition financing. “Large PSU banks have shown a lot of interest… they have a large appetite. The interest is already visible,” said a senior partner at a law firm, stating that lenders have started internal evaluations on how to operationalise the new framework. Banks are now preparing board-approved policies, subject to risk department vetting and upgrades in staffing and capabilities. Why Lenders are Racing to Comply A senior private sector banker said the initial draft guidelines were “widely dismissed as toothless,” offering little flexibility and failing to address long-standing industry concerns. “But the RBI’s revised guidelines have dramatically altered that perception. Banks are eager to enter this business. The final guidelines are far more favourable and provide ample operational headroom,” added a senior official at a state-run bank.

India’s M&A landscape has decisively shifted toward the public markets. In CY2025, listed companies accounted for nearly one-third (30%) of all acquisitions, up from 23% a year earlier, signalling a clear shift in dealmaker preference. The trend is even more pronounced at the top end — eight of the 14 largest transactions, worth a combined $39.5 billion, involved listed entities, underscoring their growing dominance in big-ticket dealmaking. “Transparency, liquidity, and valuation clarity have seen growing investor preference for listed companies,” said a senior official at a domestic investment bank. Adding further, Sourav Mallik, MD and Deputy CEO of Kotak Investment Banking, said, “Listed M&A continues to gain traction, and we expect this trend to continue,” indicating the growing comfort of investors with acquiring publicly traded businesses. The year’s activity was dominated by the financial services, healthcare, and industrial sectors, which continue to attract both strategic and financial buyers. India recorded $120 billion in M&A transactions in 2025, a 14% year-on-year increase, reaffirming its position among the world’s top-10 M&A markets. Even as global dealmaking remained uneven, India’s resilience and depth stood out.

Universal Music India (UMI), part of Universal Music Group (UMG), has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 30% stake in Excel Entertainment, valuing the Indian film and digital content studio at `2,400 crore. The deal will mark one of the most significant cross-industry partnerships between a global music major and an Indian film production house, underscoring the growing convergence between the music and visual content sectors. The agreement will also see UMI and Excel collaborate to accelerate the studio’s growth and strengthen UMG’s footprint in India, currently the world’s 15th-largest recorded music market. What does this partnership entail? Under the partnership, UMG will gain global distribution rights for all future original soundtracks created for Excel projects. The two companies will also launch a dedicated Excel music label, to be globally distributed by UMG. In addition, Universal Music Publishing Group will become Excel’s exclusive music publishing partner, creating opportunities for UMG and UMI artists and repertoire to feature in Excel’s future productions.

Japanese investment via mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in India surged to a historic high in 2025, marking one of the strongest years for foreign capital inflows into the country. Japanese firms deployed over $9 billion this year—led by MUFG’s landmark $4.4 billion investment in Shriram Finance, followed by JFE Holdings’ investment in Bhushan Power & Steel for $1.75 billion. The last time we saw such a huge investment by Japanese firms in India was in 2019, when ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel acquired Essar Steel for close to $7 billion. In the last 10 years, since 2016, Japanese investors have pumped close to $20 billion in 48 M&A deals, of which the top 10 accounted for $18.2 billion. Five of the top 10 investments by Japanese firms in India since 2016 were reported in 2025, accounting for close to $8 billion. Redefining India’s Financial Landscape The year 2025 has emerged as a turning point, with Japan’s largest financial institutions aggressively expanding their presence in India. MUFG’s December announcement of a nearly Rs 40,000-crore deal for a 20% stake in Shriram Finance—the biggest FDI in India’s financial sector to date—set the tone. In December 2025, Mizuho Financial Group’s acquisition of a controlling stake in Avendus for Rs 4,720 crore and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s (SMBC) Rs 13,483-crore purchase of a 20% stake in YES Bank earlier in May.

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are expected to maintain a steady pace of acquisitions in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) space in 2026, as they look to accelerate premiumisation, shorten innovation cycles and build sharper digital capabilities amid uneven volume growth in their core portfolios. According to industry executives and investors, the case for buying D2C brands remains intact, even as deal-making becomes more selective. The focus is likely to be on brands that can scale cleanly through an incumbent’s balance sheet, supply chain and distribution network, while retaining their differentiated positioning and consumer connect. “These companies operate on rapid test-and-iterate cycles, enabling large FMCG players to compress product development timelines from years to months,” Vikram Gupta, founder and managing partner at IvyCap Ventures,told FE. He added that D2C brands also bring deep first-party consumer data, covering discovery, repeat behaviour and churn, giving acquirers clearer visibility into evolving preferences and pricing elasticity.

KFC and Pizza Hut operator Sapphire Foods India Limited is set to merge into Devyani International Limited which also operates the QSR chains in the country, the company said in a statement on Thursday, January 1. The deal, first reported by the Economic Times, comes as fast-food franchisees in India face slowing same-store sales and margin pressures, with consumers cutting back on dining out and ordering in amid high living costs. Devyani will issue 177 shares for every 100 shares of Sapphire as part of the deal and it expects annual synergies of Rs 210 crore to Rs 225 crore from the second full year of operations of the combined entity. As part of the deal, group company Arctic International will acquire about 18.5 per cent of Sapphire Foods’ paid-up equity from existing promoters, with an option to assign the stake to a mutually agreed financial investor.

Global deal-making clocked in at $4.8 tn last year-the second-highest total in four decades, eclipsed only by the 2021 lockdown binge. By headline numbers. mergers are back. By substance, they never left. By outcomes, they still don't work. A record 166 transactions above $5 bn were announced. Yet, total M&A value in 2025 was the lowest in a decade. This apparent contradiction reflects extreme concentration: a handful of outsized deals inflate headline values, while activity below the mega-deal tier has thinned sharply. Just 68 transactions above $10 bn did most of the heavy lifting. Rest of the market quietly shrank. Technology led the charge, devouring over $1 tn worth of targets, more 2x volume of healthcare, However, before celebrating this resurgence, it's worth confronting an inconvenient empirical truth. Baruch Lev and Feng Gu's study of 40,000 acquisitions over four decades in their 2024 book, The M&A Failure Trap, finds that 70-75% of mergers fail to live up to expectations. This is despite ritual incantations of transformational synergies' and 'unlocked shareholder value phrases that now sit somewhere between fiction and faith.

India’s mergers and acquisitions pipeline is expected to remain robust in the coming year, building on a strong rebound in dealmaking through 2025. Domestic consolidation touched $104 billion this year, marking its best performance in two years, while inbound transactions rose to $30 billion, driven largely by lenders from East Asia and the Middle East buying stakes in Indian banks, reported TOI. Outbound activity also gathered momentum, jumping to $22 billion -- the highest level in a decade -- led by overseas purchases by companies such as Tata Motors and Tega Industries. Among emerging markets, India ranked second in deal value, trailing only China’s $410 billion, Dealogic data showed. Bankers expect the momentum to carry forward. “We see sustained strength in M&A activity in 2026, supported by healthy corporate balance sheets and increasing confidence among promoters,” said S Sundareswaran, head of M&A for India at Morgan Stanley.

India’s M&A landscape was dominated by inbound deals in 2025, but a quieter, emerging shift this year has been Indian companies increasingly looking outward. Overseas acquisitions accounted for over one-fourth (25.4%) of the total deal market in 2025 till December 15, 2025. It was just 10% of the total deal value in 2023, steadily rising to 19.6% in 2024. “Indian companies saw a clear advantage in scaling up inorganically by accessing new markets, technologies, and products. A major driver was also the valuation arbitrage, with Indian firms trading at significantly higher valuations than many of the overseas companies they acquire,” said Bhavesh Shah, MD & Head of Investment Banking at Equirus Capital. “Outbound acquisitions today are driven by strategic necessity as much as tactical opportunism—faster time-to-market. Building organically cannot match the pace at which global industries and global economic paradigm are transforming,” said Ramakrishnan Kalyanaraman, Senior Managing Director-Strategic Relationships, Spark Capital. Shift to Global Expansion Coforge’s acquisition of US-based digital engineering firm Encora in an all-stock transaction valued at $2.35 billion is a great example of Indian companies stepping up their cross-border acquisitions for a very clear reason: digital transformation has become the new battleground. Instead of building capabilities from scratch, firms are buying niche global players that already sit deep within clients’ digital journeys—giving them instant access to technology, talent, and end customers. “If I have the cash and the scale, acquiring a specialised firm becomes the fastest way to future-proof my business—whether that means new markets, new capabilities, or simply staying ahead of the automation curve,” Kalyanaraman added.

India's Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) plans to amend its merger and acquisition rules, including barring acquiring companies from offering higher prices or additional compensation to major shareholders, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The reforms aim to level the playing field for smaller and retail investors and expedite deals, the sources said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media. The proposed changes have not been previously reported. SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, speaking to reporters after a board meeting on Wednesday, confirmed efforts to revamp the so-called "takeover code" regulations, stating that proposed changes would be put out for public feedback. He did not disclose specific details.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has completed the merger of Star Television Productions (STPL), a subsidiary of the company, with JioStar. On November 14, 2024, Reliance had intimated about the scheme of arrangement for the merger of STPL with Star India, now known as JioStar India, another subsidiary of the company. Jiostar–STPL merger becomes effective “JioStar has, on November 30, 2025 at 6:09 pm (IST), informed the Company that the said scheme has become effective from November 30, 2025, and STPL stands merged with JioStar,” Reliance Industries informed in a regulatory filing.

Indian companies continued to do brisk deals in 2025 with mergers & acquisitions (M&A) values up 37% year-on-year to about $26 billion across 649 transactions in the first nine months, according to a study by a leading professional services firm. The momentum in deals continued despite geo-political flux, showcasing sustained investor confidence and cementing India's position as one of the top transaction markets. "As we analyse the M&A landscape for Q3 2025, both PE and M&A have seen a rebound from the previous quarter. The remarkable $26 billion in deal value, fuelled by strategic big size transactions across key sectors, highlights robust investor confidence," said Amit Khandelwal, managing partner, strategy and transactions, EY India and Africa region.

Pfizer on Thursday closed its up to $10 billion acquisition of Metsera after winning shareholder approval, gaining a foothold in the fast-growing obesity market following a fierce bidding war with Novo Nordisk. The greenlight from Metsera's shareholders paves the way for Pfizer to diversify beyond its shrinking COVID-19 portfolio, navigate looming patent expirations, and tap into the fast-growing weight-loss drug market that analysts estimate could be worth $150 billion annually by the end of the decade. Shares of Pfizer were up 1.4%, while U.S.-listed shares of Novo slipped 1.3%. "By acquiring Metsera, we are directing our resources toward one of the most impactful and high-growth therapeutic areas and positioning ourselves to define it," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.

Japanese major Kokuyo, which acquired furniture maker HNI India earlier this year, will tap segments such as residential real estate, lifestyle and education to grow its presence in the domestic market, Masahiro Fukui, managing officer of the firm’s global workplace division, said in a conversation with FE. The plan is to grow India revenue over three-fold in five years, Fukui said, for which the company may look at further acquisitions to fill portfolio gaps. Kokuyo has completed the rebranding of HNI India, its second acquisition in the country, to Kokuyo Workplace India (Kokuyo India). Kokuyo India has an annual revenue of Rs 250 crore, growing at 15-20% per annum. Kokuyo’s first acquisition is that of stationery maker Camlin from the Mumbai-based Dandekar family, which was done in 2012. Now called Kokuyo Camlin, it is listed on the stock exchanges in Mumbai with an annual turnover close to Rs 800 crore. Fukui says there is no plan to merge Kokuyo Camlin into Kokuyo India. The two will operate as separate units in the country for now, he said.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) recent move to permit domestic lenders to finance acquisitions may open the door for them in sectors such as pharmaceuticals & healthcare, energy, infrastructure, industrials and renewables, said top investment banking sources. These segments have seen consolidation in the last few years, data from EY show, with as many as three big M&A deals valued at $1-3 billion reported in these verticals in the first half of this calendar year. India Inc’s total investment activity in the first half of this year touched $50 billion across M&A and PE deals, 16% below the same period last year, but in line with the trend seen in H12023, when total investment activity stood at $50.4 billion, according to EY data. M&A and PE deals in H12025 were nearly evenly split at $24 billion and $26 billion each. The previous two years show a sharper tilt towards PE deals. (See chart) Experts say that sectors such as pharma, energy and infra give banks the opportunity to get “hard collateral” (such as land, buildings and plants) against loans versus “soft collateral” or shares. Banks can also fund up to 70% of the acquisition value, with 30% coming from the acquirer’s own equity.

The number of deals also slipped to 787, compared with 840 transactions in Q2FY25, reflecting a slowdown in corporate deal-making momentum. The 9.57 per cent decline in deal value marks a reversal from the sharp growth seen last year, when India had emerged as one of the most active M&A markets in Asia. The fall comes at a time when global investors are adopting a more cautious approach amid fears of US tariff impact, valuation gaps, and increased scrutiny on leverage-backed transactions. Still, Q2FY26 remained active for large-ticket transactions. Deals such as Capgemini’s acquisition of WNS Holdings, Tata Motors’ buy of Iveco group’s stake, and Wilmar International’s purchase of AWL Agri Business from Adani Enterprises underlined continuing appetite for scale plays in IT services, auto, and technology companies.

Waaree Energies, a leading solar PV module manufacturer, has acquired a 76 per cent stake in Racemosa Energy India for Rs 53 crore. In an exchange filing, Waaree Energies said that the company’s board of directors, which met on September 18, approved the acquisition. Racemosa Energy India, founded in 2018, is a Maharashtra-based manufacturer of smart electric meters. Waaree Energies said the company’s primary objective for the majority acquisition of Racemosa Energy India is to integrate smart meters into the company’s portfolio to strengthen its presence across the energy value chain. After the acquisition, Racemosa Energy India will become a step-down subsidiary of Waaree Energies, the company said in the exchange filing. Waaree Energies’ subsidiary stake sale Earlier this week, Waaree Energies announced that it will offload a 14.66 per cent stake in its subsidiary company Indosolar Ltd. The company said that it is selling the stake in the subsidiary company to comply with the minimum public shareholding guidance of SEBI.

The government has notified rules expanding the scope of fast track mergers under the Companies Act, 2013, bringing in more categories of companies within the simplified route for amalgamations and demergers, an official statement said on Thursday. The move will provide quicker turnaround for corporate restructuring. The framework will particularly benefit unlisted entities and groups looking at internal reorganisations without the need for lengthy tribunal approvals. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has amended the Companies (Compromises, Arrangements and Amalgamations) Rules, 2016, through a notification issued on September 4, 2025, following stakeholder consultations.

Mergers and acquisitions activity dropped to USD 50 billion in the first half of 2025, down 17 per cent when compared with the year-ago period, a report said on Tuesday. When compared with the July-December 2024 period, there was a 2 per cent increase in the value, leading authors at the consultancy firm EY to term the H12025 activity as defying global headwinds and policy uncertainties. From a volume perspective, the number of transactions dropped 12 per cent on-year to 1,285, it said, adding that there is a shift in investor strategy to prefer fewer, high-value bets which are strategic in nature.

During the first half, the 7.1 per cent rise in deal count to 1,614 signals continuing appetite among domestic conglomerates and private equity (PE) funds for mid-sized and smaller assets. The healthcare, infrastructure, and financial services sectors emerged as key drivers. This comes even as overall value trailed the post-pandemic highs of 2022, when first half (H1) deal making had peaked to over $135 billion. During the first half of this year, the largest deal was New Mountain Capital’s $2 billion acquisition of Access Healthcare Services, a Chennai-based revenue cycle management firm. It underscores the growing attractiveness of healthcare outsourcing, driven by US demand and India’s tech-enabled service base. Temasek's acquisition of 10 per cent stake in Haldiram Foods from its promoters for $1 billion was another marquee transaction during the first half.