Adapting to the new hybrid normal of remote and office work, cautiously optimistic corporate are looking to hire more people and provide better appraisals in the new year as they step out of the pandemic-ravaged 2020. The coronavirus pandemic emerged as the biggest inflection point for the Indian job landscape. For the corporates, work-from-home and remote workers became the new normal and for the professionals, online learning and digital skills took centrestage.
The domestic deal-making activities were hit by weak corporate governance and a huge liquidity crunch in 2019, while the global deals were also hard to come by due to various factors including uncertainties caused by the US-China trade war, which left many investors in a wait-and-watch mode.
Dealmakers and advisors feel investors are shifting their focus to Asia Pacific, especially India, owing to geopolitical instability driven by events such as Brexit and protectionist trade wars.
Albeit muted for most part of the year, Deal Street in India has clocked M&As worth $29 billion in 2014 and expects the size to get larger with transactions worth over $40 billion in the New Year.
Campus placements are already in full-swing and hiring plans of many companies, whose expansion plans were stuck due to policy paralysis, are now getting green signals.
Steps to improve governance, instill confidence in the government machinery and streamlining function across the different ministries are also important to feed the positive mood, the DBS report added.
M&A deals announced by Indian companies shave crossed Rs 2 trillion mark in 2012.
Besides, some foreign MNCs -- possibly enticed by the world's second fastest growing economy -- sought to enter India by acquiring into local companies, mostly in telecom, steel and pharma sectors.
The biggest irony is that nearly two-thirds of these funds are estimated to have come from investors in overseas markets, which themselves were in shambles and where companies were in dire need of capital, forcing them to beg their respective governments for money.
The total number of M&A deals announced till December 15 stood at 445 and its combined value was $30.72 billion, according to global consultancy firm Grant Thornton said. It hardly a match to last year's 676 deals worth $51.11 billion.
After a subdued year, the investors and market experts are expecting the PE and VC investments to pick up next year as raising debts have become costlier and IPOs are not finding any takers and the dampened investor sentiments might finally start improving on the back of efforts made by the government. At the same time, VC investments into Indian firms have declined to $733 million with 122 deals so far this year, from 142 deals worth $874 million in 2007.
Anil Ambani group's Reliance Power on Monday made its debut on the bourses, listing at a premium of over 20 per cent, but slipped below the issue price in early morning trade.
Reliance Power IPO from billionaire Anil Ambani-led group may have generated highest demand, but its listing premium could only be ranked the lowest after DLF among 10 major IPOs since elder brother Mukesh's Reliance Petroleum made its debut on the bourses in 2006.
India's corporate honchos spent a considerable time and energy this year at deal tables and executed over thousand transactions involving sale or purchase of equity stakes in their companies. On an average, every single day of 2007 saw about three deals being announced. This included a total of 1,047 merger and acquisitions as well as private equity deals for a total value of $68.32 billion (about Rs 2,75,000 crore).
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