Author
Harsh Batra
Harsh Batra
Infrastructure gave India’s M&A market a clear boost in 2025. According to EY, the sector was the largest contributor by deal value over the year, reaching USD 24.6bn (+35% YoY), even as volume fell 18%. The pattern points to a markedly higher average ticket size, with sustained government capex, green hydrogen, digital infrastructure and falling battery storage costs cited as the main drivers.
Cross-border activity is another story worth watching. Transaction volume dropped 20%, but value jumped 155% to USD 33.2bn. Inbound was driven by strategic capital from the Middle East and Japan, with India positioning itself as a preferred market for large multinational financial institutions. Outbound also moved sharply higher, from USD 5.1bn to USD 13.7bn, with peaks in July (around USD 6bn) and December.
Both trends point to the same pattern of selectivity in a market surrounded by uncertainty. EY expects this sentiment to intensify in 2026, citing geopolitical volatility and the conflict in the Middle East alongside its knock-on effects on energy, inflation and supply chains. In that environment, the report points to scalable platforms capable of gaining share and defending margins as the favoured profile.
Highlights from this edition include:
- Sun Pharma’s USD 11.75bn all-cash acquisition of Organon anchored the fortnight’s largest strategic move, giving the Indian pharma major a major step-up in women’s health, biosimilars and established brands, while signalling its appetite for scale-led international expansion.
- GMR Airports’ promoters agreed to buy back Groupe ADP’s 7.3% stake for Rs 10,100, tightening domestic control over one of India’s most strategic airport platforms and marking a sizeable liquidity event for the French investor.
- Cognizant agreed to acquire Astreya for USD 600m, adding AI infrastructure and managed IT services capabilities as Indian-origin IT services groups continue to use M&A to reposition around enterprise AI, cloud and infrastructure demand.
For more insights and conversations about the market, connect with me on LinkedIn.
Enjoy the read.
Deals Tracker
Rumour mill
- After more than a decade holding ACT Fibernet, TA Associates and True North are scripting a $1 bn exit, with Nomura and Ambit running the sale
- Over USD 100 million is expected to be pulled by Blackstone from its India real estate portfolio.
- Mitsubishi is on its way out of the NTPC power project in West Bengal, with both sides still negotiating the exit penalty.
- Weak investor interest has prompted the government to review IDBI Bank’s disinvestment, with valuations and timelines under fresh discussion.
- Smart metering firm Polaris is up for sale: I Squared Capital has hired a bank for its USD 200 million stake.
- Eversource Capital is mulling a fresh sale process for portfolio company Radiance Renewables.
- A maiden PE round is being prepped at Swiss Beauty, with a banker already on the mandate.
- Demerger talk is back at Hindustan Zinc. CEO says timing depends on Vedanta’s own split
- India is on Ageas’ shopping list. The Belgian insurer is looking for acquisitions and new distribution tie-ups as it doubles down on the market
- Up to 85% of Bharti’s life insurance business could go to Prudential, in a deal estimated at INR 7,000 to 8,000 crore.
- Jubilant FoodWorks is looking to hand back the India franchise of Dunkin’ to Inspire Brands before the December deadline.
- Quadria Capital and four other PE firms are eyeing an 80 to 85% stake in Samarth Lifesciences, in a deal that could value it at INR 4,500 crore.
IPOs
- MakeMyTrip is said to have hired banks for its India offering, adding to its existing Nasdaq listing.
- Zenex Animal Health is sharpening its margins ahead of an IPO, even as growth cools at the Multiples PE-backed company.
- Strong FY26 numbers are holding up at IPO bound furniture rental firm Rentomojo.
- Could the IDR route be on the table? MakeMyTrip is reportedly weighing it for an India listing.
- EQT backed Virtusa is exploring a USD 1 billion India IPO that could push the IT services firm past USD 7 billion.
- General Atlantic backed Acko is eyeing a USD 2 to 2.5 billion valuation in its 2027 IPO, with Morgan Stanley, ICICI Securities and Kotak on board.
- Mobile gaming unit PlaySimple, owned by Sweden’s Modern Times Group, has filed for an India IPO of up to USD 335 million.
- After a decade of delays, the NSE is finally heading to market. LIC, SBI, Temasek and CPPIB are among 20 backers ready to sell.
- Amba Auto Sales kicked off its INR 65 crore SME IPO on April 27, with a price band of INR 130 to 135 per share.
- On May 1, Vedanta’s demerger goes through and the group splits into four newly listed entities.
Job moves
- Roblox has named former AWS senior executive Sunil Rao as managing director for India.
- Gautam Anand will lead HSBC’s global India private banking unit.
- Flipkart has appointed Sharayu Jadhav as VP Legal and Varun Gupta as VP Corporate Development.
- Subrat Mohanty has been cleared by the RBI for a three year reappointment as Axis Bank Executive Director.
- InCred’s asset management arm has tapped an Enam AMC executive for the CEO seat.
- Venkatesh Tarakkad takes the CFO seat at AHH; Ritesh Pandey shifts to chief business officer.
- From July 1, Nobuo Okochi takes over as CFO at ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India.
- Boardroom seats are running empty at India’s public sector banks, raising fresh governance concerns.
- Dr Nikhil Tandon steps in as officiating director of AIIMS Delhi.
- From Ashok Lahiri to Gobardhan Das, NITI Aayog is going through a reboot amid global headwinds.
- Suresh Sethi has been named Visa’s group country manager for India and South Asia.
- HSBC Private Bank has placed senior banker Gautam Anand at the head of its global India wealth business.
- From JPMorgan to Citigroup: Bhavin Shukla now leads Asia infrastructure investment banking at the latter.
- Former Cipla chief Umang Vohra has been brought in as executive chairman and group CEO of Advent backed Cohance Lifesciences.
- Alkem Laboratories CEO Vikas Gupta has resigned and will leave by end June.
- An infrastructure PE veteran has been brought in as CEO of NIIF’s roads platform Athaang.
- After roughly a year on the job, a senior executive at Bengaluru’s RMZ Corp has stepped down.
- A top Waterfield Advisors executive has jumped ship to a Lightspeed backed wealth tech firm.
Fundraising
- Three early stage rounds in one go: SportVot, Vikra Ocean Tech and Prithu have closed seed cheques.
- Dholakia Lab Grown Diamond has raised over USD 84 million in a round led by Abakkus PE.
- A Hyderabad residential project has secured fresh capital from Neo Alternative.
- Broking platform Sahi has tripled its valuation in a year on the back of a Series B round.
- VC backed personal care brand Pilgrim is hunting a PE cheque and has appointed a banker.
- Parag Agrawal’s AI startup has hit a USD 2 billion valuation after raising USD 100 million.
- Snabbit’s Series D has been co led by Susquehanna VC, Mirae Asset and Bertelsmann.
- Early stage cheques have landed at HyugaLife, House of Chikankari, Mojro, Kovon and others.
- Capital A has wrapped up a first close of INR 160 crore for its second fund.
- USD 56 million has landed at Snabbit through a Series D round.
- After four years away from the funding market, MCaffeine is back with a fresh round in sight.
- Axis Finance has drawn a Kedaara Capital cheque at a valuation of over USD 1.5 billion.
- Targeting manufacturing bets, Capital A has hit first close of its second fund.
- Allianz Global Investors has secured USD 270 million for its Asian infrastructure credit fund.
- Trimex Foods, the local franchisee of Chili’s, PAUL and Cinnabon, has drawn USD 40 million from Siguler Guff.
- Premji Invest’s PI Opportunities Fund has backed Maharashtra hospital chain NewEra Hospitals.
- Hitwicket maker Metasports Interactive has secured USD 20 million from Metica for user acquisition.
- Another INR 1,075 crore from Sumitomo Mitsui has flowed into wholly owned NBFC SMFG India Credit through a rights issue.
- Up to INR 30,000 crore is what Piramal Finance plans to raise in FY27, leaning more on domestic debt than overseas markets.
- Coforge has scrapped its QIP plan and locked in a USD 550 million three year syndicated loan to fund the Encora deal.
- To deepen its D2C checkout stack, Pine Labs has snapped up Shopflo for INR 88 crore.
