Indian billionaires buy foreign companies as growth slows at home

Indian billionaires buy foreign companies as growth slows at home33 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleNikhil InamdarMumbaiBloomberg via Getty ImagesIndia's Sun Pharmaceuticals paid $11.75bn to buy New York-listed Organon & CoIn late April, India's Sun Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay $11.75bn (£8.59bn) to acquire New York-listed women's health and biosimilars firm Organon & Co.It marked the biggest overseas acquisition by an Indian company in nearly two decades and followed a string of high-profile international deals by Indian firms in recent months.These include Tata Motors' $4.4bn acquisition of Turin-based vehicle maker Iveco, IT company Coforge's $2.35bn purchase of Silicon Valley-based AI firm Encora and the Bajaj Group buying a 23% stake in global insurance giant Allianz SE earlier in 2025.Data from consultancy Grant Thornton shows that 162 Indian companies spent more than $18bn on outbound acquisitions in 2025 - a 34% increase from the previous year."We could cross $15bn in deal value in just the first half of this year," Sumeet Abrol, partner and national leader at Grant Thornton, told the BBC.For many, this new wave of overseas acquisitions by India Inc evokes memories of the global buying spree led by companies such as the Tata Group two decades ago, when it made audacious bets for global trophy assets like Jaguar Land Rover and Corus Steel.But several analysts told the BBC that the motivations this time are somewhat different. Indian companies are pursuing Western assets not simply as symbols of global ambition, but increasingly for strategic and operational reasons.AFP via Getty ImagesTata Group was among the first Indian companies to acquire global firms like Jaguar Land Rover two decades agoThe broader economic backdrop has also changed sharply since the early 2000s. During the previous acquisition boom, India was in the midst of a roaring bull market. Today, the country is grappling with a rapid exo...