India's PE and M&A deal values in May 2019 dropped by 83% from last year

• In May 2019, India saw M&A transactions worth $3.4 billion and PE deals worth $1.1 billion take place, according to a report by Grant Thorton.
• When compared to April 2019, the deal volumes have dropped by 29% although deal size grew by 6%.
• Startups led the PE deals with companies like Grofers and Blackbuck raising big money in May 2019.

The election month did not go down well with investors.

In May 2019, there was an 83% drop in deal value for the month as fewer private equity deals closed, as did mergers & acquisitions.

India witnessed 33 M&A transactions and 48 PE deals worth $3.4 billion and $1.1 billion for the period, according to a report by Grant Thorton.

The number of deals too dropped by 17%, the report said.

When compared to April 2019, the deal volumes have dropped by 29% even as the deal size grew by 6%.

Indian startups led the PE deals with as many as 25 deals closed for the month accounting to $325 million. The e-commerce sector saw just three deals but their combined size worth $229 million.

The biggest investments included $200 million funds raised by Grofers from Japanese investment firm Softbank. Logistics firm Blackbuck too raised as much as $150 million. Interestingly, both the companies are in the running to become the next unicorns of India.

In the first quarter of 2019, India had saw a flurry of activity in the PE and venture capital space. PE-VC firms invested $10 billion in the country via 159 deals, according to data research firm Venture Intelligence.