Open Access Research Article
CROSS-BORDER MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS IN INDIA: AN ANALYSIS OF FEMA, COMPETITION LAW AND SECURITIES MARKET REGULATIONS
Abstract
In 2025, India saw fewer cross-border deals, but each one was much
bigger and passed through more checks. EY counts the combined inbound and
outbound value at US$33.2
billion, up 155% on
2024, while the number of deals fell. Dividing one figure by the
other gives an average deal of about US$104 million, roughly 3.4 times the 2024
average. This paper asks how three regulators, each with its own law and its
own timetable, handle deals of this size: the Reserve Bank of India and the
Central Government under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA); the Competition Commission of India (CCI) under the Competition Act, 2002;
and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) under its takeover,
share-issue and disclosure rules.
The paper reads
the rules as they stand
in November 2026.
These include the September 2024 deal value threshold, the March 2026
change to Press Note 3 and SEBI's December 2025 valuation reforms. It then
tests them against published deal data and five deals:
Walmart-Flipkart, Amazon-Future Coupons,
Emirates NBD-RBL Bank, Tata Motors-Iveco and Sun Pharma-Organon.
Three findings stand out. First, the three regimes rarely clash. The
real problem is order and timing: Emirates NBD took 241 days from announcement
to control of RBL Bank, and Tata Motors took 457 days to settle its Iveco deal.
Second, competition approval is now the most predictable step (about 97% of
deals clear without conditions). But the Supreme Court's May 2026 Amazon ruling shows that what matters
most is whether an approval, once given, can be trusted to stand. Third,
published deal statistics for the same year and the same border differ
by as much as 48%, so any model built on one tracker's numbers inherits
that tracker's definitions. The paper ends with seven recommendations for lawyers who structure deals and for regulators
planning the next round of reform.
Published Paper
Author Details
Authors: REBECCA JENNIFER CHOWDHURYRegistration ID: 1013576 | Published Paper ID: IJLRA13576Approved ISSN: 2582-6433 | Country: Delhi, India
Article Information
CROSS-BORDER MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS IN INDIA: AN ANALYSIS OF FEMA, COMPETITION LAW AND SECURITIES MARKET REGULATIONS
Authors: REBECCA JENNIFER CHOWDHURY
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Volume 3
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- AbbreviationIJLRA
- ISSN2582-6433
- AccessOpen Access
- LicenseCC 4.0
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