Author
Harsh Batra
Harsh Batra
India’s M&A market entered H2 2026 with a clear contradiction: the broader investment banking fee pool is shrinking, but deal advisory is gaining ground. LSEG data reveals that H1 investment banking fees fell 20% YoY to USD614.1m, while M&A advisory income rose 24% to USD265m. Struggle and opportunity, both comprised a single case.
This also helps to draw the full scenario of H1, where total India M&A value reached USD86.9bn in H1, up 31% despite an 8% decline in deal count. As for now, the market is driven less by volume and more by a smaller number of large, strategic transactions.
That concentration is visible in this week’s tracker. The deal highlights are:
- Persistent Systems launched a €1.27bn takeover offer for Germany-listed Nagarro, marking one of the week’s biggest India outbound tech plays. The deal would give the Pune-based IT services group a larger foothold in Europe’s digital engineering market, with Persistent offering €81 per share and already securing around 21% of the target.
- A TPG Rise Climate-led consortium agreed to acquire Aseem Infrastructure Finance from NIIF, alongside GIC and ICICI Bank..
- Inspira Global completed its Rs 2,235 crore acquisition of Restaurant Brands Asia, taking control of the operator behind Burger King India and Indonesia. Its stake is set to rise further through warrant conversion.
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Enjoy the read.
Deals Tracker
Rumour mill
- Tata Capital is back in the offshore debt market just months after its dollar debut, lining up a three-and-a-half-year bond that bankers think could raise $300 million to $500 million.
- New Delhi has made a narrow exception for four Chinese-linked power equipment makers with local factories, letting them bid for critical power projects for two years as grid pressure builds.
- India’s stake-sale machine is picking up pace, with LIC, Hindustan Zinc and state-run banks among the names being lined up as the government tries to protect the budget from higher oil costs.
Regulatory
- The RBI’s latest stress test gives banks a clean enough bill of health, with capital still above the regulatory floor even in tougher scenarios, while parts of the NBFC book look less comfortable.
- The NCLT has narrowed the Entertainment City fight to the registration of a 4.26% share transfer to Parmesh Construction, leaving broader control questions still open.
- Prudential’s India insurance reshuffle now needs regulatory sign-off, as the UK group seeks to move from promoter to investor at ICICI Pru Life before its Bharti Life deal pushes it into a second venture.
Job moves
- Redcliffe Labs is putting inorganic growth in the hands of Kshitiz Singh, a diagnostics and healthcare veteran brought in to steer partnerships, network expansion and commercial build-out.
- Jindal Stainless is bringing in Kunjal Mehta from Adani Energy Solutions as CFO, adding a finance leader with treasury and fundraising depth while the steelmaker expands capacity and reach.
- Story TV is giving its micro-drama bet a film-industry layer, hiring former Yash Raj Films executive Manan Mehta to shape strategy, content franchises and partnerships.
- Raymond’s defence push now has a BEL veteran at the wheel, with Bhanu Prakash Srivastava tasked with building a long-term play across defence electronics, systems and related technologies.
- Panattoni has handed its India business to Sharad Gohil, asking him to scale the developer’s industrial, logistics and data-centre ambitions in one of its key growth markets.
- Dilip Asbe’s move onto Swift’s global supervisory board gives India’s payments architecture a louder seat at the table, subject to approvals, after years of UPI-led credibility building.
- Tata Digital is rebuilding its top bench after a hard reset, adding Rajesh Naik, Chandramouli Gopalakrishnan and Snigdha Singh as CTO, CPO and CHRO while sharpening its financial-services focus.
- Syngene’s succession plan is now in motion after MD and CEO Peter Bains stepped down at the close of June 30.
- Mehli Mistry has stepped away from RNT Associates, the late Ratan Tata’s private investment and advisory firm, saying other commitments now need his attention.
- Flipkart is turning to former Tata Digital CTO Vinay Vaidya to strengthen the technology backbone behind fulfilment, seller experience, marketplace trust and AI-led logistics.
- XLRI Delhi-NCR has a new campus head, with Fr. Antony R. Uvari returning to the institution to deepen industry links and shape the next phase of the young campus.
- The RBI has promoted Ravi Shankar to executive director, keeping him close to the data engine as he takes charge of Statistics and Information Management.
- Rahul Badhwar is taking over JPMorgan’s India country seat, moving from HSBC’s global corporate-sales role into a market the bank is clearly not treating as peripheral.
- India’s REIT industry body has a new chair in Shirish Godbole, who steps in from Knowledge Realty Trust as the listed market tries to broaden investor participation.
- Hindustan Copper’s next growth phase lands with Anupam Misra, who takes over as CMD just as the miner pushes a Rs7,189 crore plan to triple capacity.
IPOs
- SBI Funds Management’s planned IPO is drawing heavyweight sovereign interest from ADIA and GIC, a useful signal for what could be one of India’s largest listings this year.
- Cube Highways Trust is testing appetite for infrastructure yield with a Rs5,000 crore all-OFS IPO built on a national portfolio of toll and annuity road assets.
- FirstCry’s baby-products arm Swara Baby has joined the IPO pipeline with a Rs1,000 crore DRHP split evenly between fresh capital and an OFS.
- K Raheja has decided that scale can wait and so can the IPO, pushing a possible $700 million listing back by at least a year after valuation and timing checks.
- Carlsberg has quietly put its India unit on the IPO track, with a confidential filing that could lead to a secondary share sale of up to $700 million if market conditions hold.
- Cult.fit is bringing India’s organised fitness story to public markets, filing for a Rs950 crore fresh issue alongside an OFS from investors including Temasek and Schroders.
- Jefferies is framing the NSE IPO as the missing piece in India’s exchange trio, with a September target and a possible Rs30,000 crore issue big enough to reset local league tables.
- Rentomojo has Sebi’s green light for an IPO built around a Rs150 crore fresh issue, an OFS and a rental platform that now spans subscribers, warehouses and experience stores.
- Aastha Spintex had a soft first day in the market, listing at Rs130, about 4.4% below the issue price despite a fully subscribed Rs170 crore issue.
- Manipal Health has received Sebi’s nod for its IPO and is aiming for a late-July or early-August market debut, putting another Temasek-backed healthcare name into India’s listing queue.
- Laser Power & Infra is set to open its Rs742 crore IPO on July 9, with most fresh proceeds earmarked for debt repayment as its power transmission order book scales.
- Sebi has cleared IPO plans for Moneyview and Chandan Steel, putting a fintech unicorn and a steel player into the next filing-to-launch queue.
- CSM Technologies has moved from Bhubaneswar GovTech specialist to listed-company status, using its market debut to fund working capital, debt reduction and inorganic growth.
- Three more names have entered the IPO queue, with Fibe parent Social Worth, Maan Fleet Partners and Innoterra filing draft papers across lending, mobility and agritech.
- Stalwart People Services is tapping public markets with a Rs150 crore fresh issue and promoter OFS, looking to fund working capital and trim borrowings in its staffing and facilities business.
- India’s smaller listings sent a mixed signal, with Advit Jewels opening 37% above issue price while Waterways Leisure Tourism started nearly 16% lower.
- Sampark India Logistics closed its SME IPO book at 4.95 times subscription, a modest but clear vote for a Rs27.22 crore logistics issue priced at Rs80 to Rs84.
Fundraising
- Yotta has raised $150 million at a $3.9 billion valuation to bankroll AI infrastructure, giving India’s data-centre buildout another capital-intensive marker.
- NBFC borrowers kept debt desks busy, raising more than Rs7,260 crore in one day while SIDBI prepared a much larger Rs8,000 crore bond issue.
- ICICI Bank is preparing its first dollar bond in nearly nine years, joining larger peers using the RBI’s cheaper hedge window to revisit offshore funding.
- Ather Energy is weighing a $200 million institutional share sale, giving the listed EV maker another route to finance capacity, stores and new products.
- Embassy Developments has raised its NCD headroom to Rs1,570 crore, leaving more room to tap private debt for refinancing, construction and working capital.
- Blurgs AI, built by IIT-Madras alumni, has raised $2.2 million to expand maritime and defence intelligence platforms, a niche but timely slice of India’s deep-tech market.
- Cedar Hill Capital is nearly across the line on its maiden Rs250 crore fund, with an October close in sight and a sharp focus on fintech and enterprise AI.
- Sunsure Energy has tied up Rs262 crore of project finance from FMO and Axis Bank for a 75 MWp solar project in Tamil Nadu.
- Sterlite Technologies has closed a Rs1,500 crore QIP, giving the optical and digital networks company capital to de-lever and fund its next growth phase.
- Indian companies leaned hard on commercial paper in June, pushing short-term fundraising to a five-year high of Rs2.53 trillion.
- IIFL Finance returned to the offshore market with a $300 million social dollar bond, its second such raise in less than a month.
- Corporate bond activity stayed brisk into July, with issuers raising roughly Rs16,000 crore in a single session and bankers expecting the pipeline to hold.
- PlayBlue has raised $2.7 million in seed funding as it tries to build an omnichannel sports retail play beyond the early niche.
- June’s revival helped Indian corporate bond issuance notch one of the strongest first quarters since FY20, giving debt markets a cleaner start to the year.
- Limelight Diamonds has raised Rs275 crore led by its promoters, strengthening its lab-grown jewellery push as the category moves deeper into mainstream retail.
- Dovetail and Finkurve added fresh capital in the smaller-ticket lane, with Dovetail closing its first institutional round and Finkurve tapping NCDs from Franklin Templeton.
- DMart operator Avenue Supermarts paired 15% Q1 revenue growth with a board plan to weigh debt securities, adding balance-sheet optionality for the retailer.
- Age Care Labs has raised Rs85 crore for senior-living projects, a sign that India’s ageing-care theme is moving from concept into funded real estate and services.
- JSW Infrastructure raised Rs7,503 crore through a landmark QIP, giving the ports and logistics operator capital for a Rs39,000 crore expansion plan.
