Overall deal activity in the country in 2015 was around $47 billion spread across over 1,600 deals, when compared to $49 million across 1,200 deals in 2014, according to Grant Thornton’s 11th annual deal tracker. This is the highest-ever volume of transactions recorded in the last decade.
While this demonstrates a 38 per cent increase in the deal volumes, it also indicates a six per cent decline in deal values, it added. The data also showed only five deals in the billion-dollar club compared to nine such deals in 2014, pointing out that the year fell short of big-ticket transactions that drive deal activity. In 2015, there were 14 deals above $500 million and around 80 deals above $100 million.
Grant Thornton also said that 2015 saw the private equity and venture capital activity at an all-time peak, contributing more than 60 per cent (across around 1,000 investments) of overall deal volume and 35 per cent ($16 billion) of overall deal values. The substantial increase in volume (over 70 per cent year-on-year) was due to an impressive level of interest among PE and VC investors in India’s startups, it added. A huge chunk of the total volume (over 600 investments) involved start-up investments. Investment sizes were fairly concentrated with the top three per cent of total investment volumes contributing to around 50 per cent of total investment values, the data showed.
Harish HV, partner, India Leadership team, Grant Thornton India LLP, said 2015 could be classified as the year when Indian start-ups came of age and disrupted the traditional business house and traditional thinking of speed and ability to grow, with their scaling-up at rates that are stratospheric.
In 2015, there were 14 deals above $500 mn and around 80 above $100 mn
