Authors: Bikku Kumar
Abstract: Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have emerged as the most consequential instruments of corporate strategy in India's post-liberalisation growth narrative. This paper undertakes a rigorous multi-dimensional examination of India's ten largest M&A transactions — spanning banking, e-commerce, steel, telecommunications, cement, aluminium, pharmaceuticals, and automotive sectors — executed between 2007 and 2023 with a cumulative deal value exceeding USD 113 billion. Employing a descriptive-analytical framework grounded in secondary financial data, the study evaluates pre- and post-merger performance across key metrics including Return on Equity (ROE), Earnings Per Share (EPS), and Debt-to-Equity (D/E) ratio. A comparative matrix is deployed to assess strategic intent realisation, post-merger integration efficacy, and sector-specific determinants of M&A success or failure. Statistical analysis of financial ratios reveals a statistically significant divergence between successful and failed deals when measured against pre-merger benchmarks, with successful integrations yielding a mean ROE improvement of 2.1 percentage points. The findings unequivocally establish that strategic alignment, due diligence rigour, and cultural integration capacity are the decisive success factors — not deal size alone. The research contributes an empirically grounded, sector-comparative understanding of M&A dynamics in an emerging market context.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20305623
