India's 2016 M&A and PE activity jumps over 40% in value term: Report

India's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and PE (private equity) activity last year increased by over 40 per cent to $62.5 billion worth of transactions, a report said.

According to Grant Thornton's annual dealtracker report, last year witnessed $62.5 billion worth of transactions spread across nearly 1,487 deals.

In 2015, the country's M&A and PE activity recorded 1,615 deals worth $43.5 billion.

The assurance, tax and advisory firm's report disclosed that domestic deals drove the M&A momentum with a 59 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth aggregating to $ 13.4 billion across 310 deals.

"2016 was a good year for deal makers with $62.5 bn worth of transactions spread across nearly 1,500 deals - a strong 40 per cent y-o-y increase in values was witnessed during the period," Prashant Mehra, Partner at Grant Thornton India was quoted as saying in a statement.

Mehra said that one of the key highlights was the resurgence of 'big-ticket' M&A deals which led to transaction values clocking their highest levels in the last five years.

"In contrast, PE activity slumped this year and registered its first decline in the last four years over increasing caution in investor sentiments," he added.

The firm gave a forecast that the implementation of structural policies and reforms like GST, hike in income due to Seventh Pay Commission and one rank, one pension (OROP) will drive growth in 2017.

"Expected improvements in the banking sector, boost in private investments, pick up in rural demand, a robust primary market and improving utilisations across industries are likely to drive domestic growth," said Harish HV, Partner, India leadership team, Grant Thornton India.

"Amidst global uncertainties arising due to the Brexit and US presidential elections, India continues to be the bright spot. This is likely to drive resilient growth in deal activity 2017 as well."

--IANS

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