Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions by Indian Corporates

A new trend in India evident since 2005 is the increasing number of Indian corporate becoming global players, acquiring companies through Outward Foreign Direct Investments (OFDI) related Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) in countries such as the USA, UK, France, Germany and other part of Europe. The value of overseas buyouts by Indian companies increased from US$ 1.7 billion in 2004 to US$ 4.5 billion in 2005. This represents an increase of 164 per cent. While the average size of global acquisition in 2005 was US$ 32 million, for Jan-April 2006, the figure stood at US$ 69 million.The questions raised following OFDI related M&As in India include: Does corporate performance improve as a consequence of the OFDI related M&As? How does the market react to the news of the OFDI related M&As? What will be the wealth effects from the short term and long term perspectives? What are the drivers and motives behind the Internationalisation of firms in India?