India Inc seals 2,007 deals worth$127 bn in 2022, 6% dip from previous

NEW DELHI: India Inc recorded 2,007 deals worth $127 billion last year, a 6 per cent decrease in deal volumes over 2021, despite the global macroeconomic conditions, a report showed on Friday.

The year also recorded 11 multi-billion-dollar deals amounting to $82.5 billion and 97 deals valued between $100 and $999 million, amounting to $26.2 billion, according to Grant Thornton Bharat’s annual dealtracker report.

The year 2022 also saw a 47 per cent increase in the values on the back of a few marquee deals that no other year witnessed.

“It is worth noting that even against the global recession outlook, India has been faring well. However, deal activity witnessed two different phases, as the second half did not see the highs of the first half,” said Shanthi Vijetha, Partner-Growth at Grant Thornton Bharat.

The Indian mergers and acquisitions (M&A) space saw 477 deals worth $91.4 billion in 2022, a 200 per cent increase compared to 2021.

Deal values were driven by the HDFC and HDFC Bank merger ($40 billion), which was the biggest deal ever in Indian history. However, barring this deal, the year witnessed a significant increase in values showing the positive outlook of the Indian markets.

The start-up and IT sectors dominated the space with 44 per cent of total volumes, while the banking and manufacturing sectors led the values, said the report.

“Domestic and outbound M&A continued to see momentum on the back of a resilient domestic economy, whereas private equity (PE) investments and inbound M&A slowed down due to funding winter and global uncertainty,” said Vijetha.

The PE space saw 1,530 deals worth $35.4 billion, including four deals in the billion-dollar category and 66 deals valued between $100 million and $999 million, accounting for 63 per cent of total PE deal values with only 5 per cent of deal volumes.

The start-up space attracted the most investment ($7.4 billion across 991 deals) with a slight decline of 8 per cent in volumes, compared to the 34 per cent decline in investments indicating lower ticket size investments, followed by e-commerce, which pulled in $6.6 billion and declined by 56 per cent in investments.

Bengaluru topped the charts in volumes as most companies were born there, and Mumbai topped in values and accounted for 27 per cent of total values.

The year witnessed the second-highest number of initial public offerings (IPO) listings in the last 11 years. But, this translated into 40 IPO listings raising $8.3 billion, a 38 per cent decrease in volumes and a 53 per cent decrease in values, the report said.