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Indian companies are pushing ahead with mergers and acquisitions in spite of the subprime crisis.
Takeover deals involving Indian companies were valued at a total of $8.3bn and numbered 153 in the first 10 weeks of this year, second only in non-Japan Asia to China, with $11.5bn deals numbering 372, according to figures from Thomson Financial.
"We are thinking of more inorganic growth outside the country rather than inside, simply because of the fact that there are not many companies in play in India," Adi Godrej, chairman of the Godrej consumer goods-to-palm oil group, told the Financial Times.
Even as the global credit crunch has damped the appetite among US groups for deals, cash-rich Indian groups have been able to continue their hunt because of the relatively small size of their acquisitions and their lower use of leverage.
Takeover volumes in India are sharply lower than last year because of the absence of mega deals, such as Tata Steel's pound 6.7bn ($13.5bn) purchase of Anglo-Dutch rival Corus and Vodafone of the UK's $11bn acquisition of a controlling stake in India's Hutchison Essar.
But Indian companies have continued with a number of smaller deals, again led by the Tata Group, one of the country's largest private conglomerates, whose unit, Tata Chemicals, paid $1bn for General Chemical Industrial of the US in January.
Although it is not included in the Thomson figures because it has not yet been officially announced, Tata's automotive unit, Tata Motors, is also expected to shortly announce the acquisition of Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover marques for an estimated $2bn.
Among other smaller deals, India's Siva Ventures paid $302m for JB Ugland Shipping of Norway and Indiabulls Real Estate is planning to pay $255m for Dev Property Development of the UK.
