India records 221 deals worth USD 9.2 bn in Oct ’21

New Delhi : Buoyed by positive domestic business sentiment across sectors and global economic recovery, India Inc has witnessed 221 deals amounting to USD 9.2 billion in October 2021, registering an 11% increase in deal activities compared to September 2021.

The volumes of deal in October have grown 101%, more than double of what was achieved in October 2020, according to a Grant Thornton Bharat Dealtracker released on Monday.

“October has been encouraging, both in terms of deal volume and deal value, indicating the continuum in deal activities, says Shanthi Vijetha, Partner, Grant Thornton Bharat.

“While volumes recorded a 2x increase over October 2020, deal values saw a strong 24% increase. The economy is being bolstered by the rapid improvement in high-frequency indicators such as the e-way bills, GST collection, power demand, rail freight and exports growth, etc. The current pace is likely to re-establish economic growth momentum,” says Vijetha.

The report shows Mergers & Acquisition (M&A) at the highest since 2015, with transactions at USD 3.3 billion across 61 deals and dominated by domestic consolidation with 79% of M&A deal volumes. The volumes almost doubled compared with September 2021, but values fell by 48%. However, M&A witnessed a marquee deal – Tata’s acquisition of Air India from the Government for an aggregate value of USD 2.4 billion which was 73% of the total M&A deal value.

The M&A deal segment was led by start-ups and the IT sector which accounted for over half of the M&A deals, contributing deal volumes of 24% and 8% respectively with an aggregate value of USD 391 million. October 2021 alone also saw the birth of five new unicorns – CoinSwitchKuber, Acko General Insurance (fintech); Faasoos, Licious (food tech), and Vedantu (edtech).

One of the largest Series A funding in the Indian start-up ecosystem took place in October with CredAvenue raising USD 90 million – a signal of growing investor interest in the new-age companies.

October also witnessed PE funds inflow in Indian companies at USD 5.9 billion, across 160 deals. While the investment volumes almost doubled compared to October 2020, the values saw an 11% decrease owing to reduced average deal size from USD 78 million in October 2020 falling to USD 37 million in October 2021. However, the month witnessed 14 high value investments, including Tata motors’ EV subsidiary’s fund raiser of USD 1 billion.

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