India, Dec. 27 -- India's M&A market may not make a resounding comeback in 2026, even as global M&A activity turned more buoyant in a late-year rally. But there are nuances at play that will have ramifications across the ecosystem.

After the bull run of 2021-22, there was a sharp correction and a prolonged slowdown, with deal volumes remaining flat through 2025. After more than 240 mergers and acquisitions in 2022, the number fell by nearly 50% in 2023 and then to 71 in 2024 and 72 in 2025.

Earlier, money was sloshing around in startup land, fuelling aggressive expansion and a record run of M&A deals. What appeared to be a structural boom in a frothy, if not outright bubbly, market has since cooled into a low-volume, high-caution phase....