India Inc. has reached a new milestone in its global dealmaking journey. Outbound M&A activity touched a record $23.5 billion in the second quarter of calendar year 2026, accounting for 84% of total deal value. The headline has been interpreted as evidence of growing corporate confidence, stronger balance sheets, and expanding global ambition. That interpretation is largely correct but is not the whole picture.
What distinguishes the current cycle is that many outbound acquisitions are being driven less by the pursuit of scale and more by the pursuit of capabilities. Indian companies are using M&A to access technology, intellectual property, overseas markets, and adjacent capabilities that would take years to build organically.
The more consequential question is how Indian companies are developing the integration capabilities required to translate these acquisitions into sustainable shareholder value. As deal values become concentrated in fewer and larger cross-border transactions, the primary challenge shifts from acquiring assets to combining them effectively. The next phase of India’s outbound M&A story will therefore be determined by integration execution.
Capital can secure intellectual property, brands, customers or market access. Bringing them together into a coherent business is a different challenge altogether. That requires what many boards still underestimate: an integration thesis that is as rigorous as the investment thesis underpinning the acquisition.
An investment thesis explains why a company should be acquired. An integration thesis explains how the acquisition will create value after closing. Increasingly, it deserves equal attention.
Integration begins during diligence
A common assumption is that integration starts after deal completion. In practice, many integration challenges originate much earlier.
Revenue opportunities may prove harder to realise than expected. Technology environments often contain hidden complexity. Critical expertise may reside with a small group of employees whose departure could weaken a substantial part of the acquisition rationale. These risks rarely emerge on day one. They frequently exist during diligence, when management still has the opportunity to address them.
This is why integration leaders should participate early in transaction planning. Their involvement helps test assumptions underlying projected synergies, identify capability gaps and establish accountability before execution pressures intensify.
The same logic applies to cross-border transactions. As Indian companies increasingly acquire overseas businesses they must also contend with differing regulatory requirements, operating models and management cultures. Integration complexity grows alongside deal size.
Just as importantly, the profile of the acquirer is changing. Cross-border M&A is no longer confined to India's largest conglomerates. Increasingly, mid-market companies are pursuing overseas acquisitions, supported by stronger balance sheets, greater global exposure and access to more sophisticated financing structures. The democratisation of outbound M&A makes integration capability a wider corporate imperative, rather than a challenge faced only by a handful of large groups.
Value erosion rarely appears immediately
One reason integration risks receive insufficient board attention is that they seldom appear first in financial statements.
Post deal, customers expect continuity regardless of ownership changes. Employees seek clarity about leadership, accountability and future direction. When communication falters, uncertainty spreads long before it becomes visible in quarterly results.
Many acquisitions are justified by digital capabilities, proprietary platforms or valuable data assets. Combining technology environments across jurisdictions introduces cybersecurity, operational and governance challenges that can disrupt business performance if they are addressed too late. The objective is to preserve the business model that supported the acquisition in the first place.
This becomes particularly important when the deal rationale centres on acquiring a capability rather than adding scale. In such transactions, much of the value resides in specialised talent, intellectual property and organisational know-how. These assets are often easier to acquire than to retain.
Revenue synergies present an even greater challenge. Cost savings are typically easier to identify. Revenue growth depends on customer retention, commercial execution, product adoption and market expansion. Each of these variables requires coordination across multiple teams and geographies and should be embedded into the integration thesis from the outset.
As a result, anticipated synergies should be treated as execution targets. Without clear ownership, measurable milestones and dedicated management attention, projected value creation can remain largely theoretical.
The stakes are rising because the scale of outbound transactions is increasing. When strategic bets become larger, integration failures become harder to absorb. The market may reward an acquisition announcement, but shareholder value is ultimately determined by what happens in the years that follow.
Boards should therefore broaden how they measure post-deal success. Financial performance remains important, but it is often a lagging indicator. Rising attrition among key employees, declining customer retention, delays in technology integration and slower decision-making frequently provide earlier signals of value erosion.
India has already demonstrated that it can produce globally ambitious acquirers. The next test is whether those acquirers can consistently turn overseas purchases into growth platforms. That challenge is becoming more important as deals increasingly target capabilities and as mid-market companies become more active participants in global M&A. Which makes it imperative to plan for integration well in advance given the overall risk profile of these cross border pursuits
Integration can no longer be treated as a post-closing workstream, it is emerging as a strategic capability in its own right. Over the next decade, the companies that create the most value from outbound M&A may not be those that execute the largest transactions, but those that integrate fastest, retain critical talent and translate acquired capabilities into competitive advantage. India Inc has proved it can buy global businesses. The next chapter will be defined by whether it can make them work together.
(The author is Partner & National Leader – Deals, Grant Thornton Bharat. Views are personal.)