Author
Harsh Batra
Harsh Batra
Indian M&A in 2025 was marked by a qualitative shift.
A recent EY report points that aggregate deal value rose 18% to US$123.8 billion while volume fell 3%, following the global trend of selectivity that took hold across multiple markets last year. The period also highlighted the contrast between the dynamism of strategic M&A and the below-par performance of India’s capital markets. The NIFTY 50 has already fallen more than 5%, and the Sensex more than 7%.
As Q2 2026 gets under way, this trend is probably going to persist. What is now particular, however, is that Indian M&A also appears to be moving from passive capital to conditional capital.
According to an analysis from Mohit Saraf, Founder and Managing Partner at Saraf and Partners, institutional investors are no longer content simply to deploy funds, and are demanding board seats, veto rights and reserved matters, especially in regulated or capital-intensive sectors. The MP augmented that this shift is not cyclical but structural, reflecting the maturation of the Indian market, greater regulatory scrutiny and lessons learned from past governance failures.
This week, the use of JVs as a strategy for international expansion was a growing theme.
Highlights include:
- JSW Steel and POSCO formed a 50:50 joint venture to develop a 6 MTPA integrated steel plant in Odisha, marking a large-scale cross-border manufacturing tie-up.
- Jio Financial Services and Allianz signed a binding agreement to set up an equally owned joint venture in India.
- AirTrunk entered India through the acquisition of Lumina CloudInfra, giving the data centre operator local operating capacity and a development pipeline.
For more insights and conversations about the market, connect with me on LinkedIn.
Enjoy the read.
Deals Tracker
Rumour mill
- Mensa Brands reverse-merged and re-domiciled from Singapore to India, positioning itself for a local IPO.
- The Bombay HC pushed the Kalyani siblings back to the table, with Baba Kalyani still resisting formal mediation. Next hearing April 28.
- Quadria and four other PE firms are eyeing an 80-85% stake in Samarth Lifesciences at a Rs 4,500 crore valuation.
- Y Combinator and Apis-backed Cashfree Payments hired a banker to explore a stake sale.
- Vedanta set May 1 as the record date for its demerger, with shareholders set to receive stock in four separately listed entities.
Fundraising
- Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines are mapping fresh funding for Air India as FY26 losses are set to top Rs 20,000 crore.
- IFC, Whiteoak, HDFC Life, Axis Max Life and PPFAS anchored Brookfield India REIT’s Rs 2,600 crore QIP.
- NDR InvIT will raise $78m through a preferential issue to fund three warehousing assets in Pune, Kochi and Coimbatore.
- JM Financial PE invested Rs 150 crore in NG Electro, a contract manufacturer serving home care, beauty and nutraceutical brands.
- LightFury Games raised $11m pre-Series A from Blume, V3, MIXI and Times Internet, with Dhoni, Bumrah and Pandya joining as investors.
- Coforge secured a $550m three-year loan from JPMorgan, Citi, HSBC, BNP Paribas and BofA to close its Encora acquisition.
- LeapFrog-backed diagnostics chain Redcliffe Labs tapped another offshore equity investor.
- Alaya By Stage3 closed a seed round to scale AI-led operations in the ethnic-wear market.
- Spill Games raised $3.1m seed led by Centre Court Capital and PeerCapital to scale its portfolio-driven mobile gaming model.
- EQT closed a record $15.6bn for its latest Asia PE fund, the largest ever raised for the region, with Indian platforms Credila and Indira IVF in the portfolio.
- NudgeBee raised $3m seed from Kalaari for its agentic AI platform for enterprise cloud ops; Lawyered raised $2.5m pre-Series A from Rainmatter and Turbostart.
- FairDeal.Market is in advanced talks for a Series A round.
- Brookfield-Axis Energy JV Evren raised $600m from SMBC, StanChart, MUFG and others to build a 1 GW solar-wind-storage hybrid supplying NTPC.
- ICICI Venture put $20m into agrochemicals exporter Agrow Allied for R&D, global registrations and manufacturing expansion.
- Organic food brand Khetika raised fresh capital from AYRA Ventures, with Anicut Capital staying on board. Clarity Labs and Axten Hospitals also closed seed rounds.
- EAAA Alternatives, the former Edelweiss AIF arm, hit first close on its fourth special situations fund targeting $1.5bn.
- Vedanta Resources is in the market for a $200m loan top-up after tapping $350m earlier this year.
- Fragrance brand FIFTH SENSE raised Rs 6.3 crore pre-seed led by OTP Ventures; IndiGo Ventures put Rs 10 crore into eVTOL maker Sarla Aviation.
- Aditya Birla Capital sold 14.3% of its housing finance arm to Advent’s Indriya vehicle for Rs 2,750 crore.
- The Hosteller raised Rs 150 crore Series B led by Promaft Partners, with V3 Ventures joining.
- BII committed $80m to Polaris, an I Squared Capital-backed smart metering platform, to deploy 2.2 million meters in West Bengal.
- Aliste, Intellithink, Unbound and Cohoma Coffee closed early-stage rounds.
- HDFC Bank will put Rs 1,000 crore into HDFC Life via a preferential issue to lift the insurer’s solvency ratio to 186%.
IPOs
- Razorpay is pursuing a confidential IPO filing, reflecting a broader fintech shift towards tighter control over pre-listing disclosures.
- Adisoft Technologies opens its IPO on April 23, priced in the Rs 163 to 172 range with a minimum lot of 800 shares.
- GCC staffing firm Xpheno is lining up a November 2027 IPO to fund acquisitions and overseas expansion.
- Banks are offering up to 30% pay hikes for dealmakers as IPO pipelines swell, with team sizes set to grow 15-20% this year.
Job moves
- ABB elevated Anna-Leena Nurkkala to head of HR for M&A.
- NIIF’s roads platform Athaang hired an infra PE veteran as CEO.
- Infosys is set to begin CEO succession talks as Salil Parekh nears the end of his term in March 2027, with a likely two-year extension under discussion.
- Alkem Labs CEO Vikas Gupta may be on the way out.
- Pocket FM promoted Lalit Gangwar to COO for its global scale-up.
- Vikram Saha resigned as Deputy MD and board member at Can Fin Homes.
- HCLTech appointed Kimsuka Narsimhan as an independent director.
- CVC Capital-controlled Aavas Financiers appointed former Kotak executive Manu Singh as MD and CEO, succeeding Bhinder.
- Visa is expected to bring in Suresh Sethi as India head.
- PESB recommended Ajit Kumar Panda for the CMD role at CONCOR.
- Rachana Bahadur was named advisor to the DP World Professional Golf Tour of India.
- Sushanta Mohanty took charge as executive director at Bank of Maharashtra.
- Dish TV added three independent directors after shareholder approval.
- KV Ramana Murty took charge as Sebi’s fourth whole-time member.
- Carlyle brought in an Affinity partner to head its Korea business.
