Top 5 mergers and acquisitions of 2017 in India

Take a look at the top five merger and acquisitions in the Indian market in 2017, which helped some big players seal their position as market leaders while giving comfort to the smaller or the troubled ones.

bharti airtel share price, bharti airtel telenor acquisition, telenor subscribers, airtel subscribers, airtel stock reco, motilal oswal on airtel, airtel 4g plans, reliance jio, vodafone, idea cellular — Employees work at a Bharti Airtel store in New Delhi, India April 20, 2016.Reuters file

The year 2017 witnessed some big-ticket mergers in the Indian market. Acquisitions and mergers are considered to be the strategic moves by the companies for expanding their business and reach. To stay competitive in the market, companies need to invest a lot of money into their business or merge themselves with other companies.

As the mega-merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India is coming to fruition, let us take a look at the biggest mergers that have taken place in the Indian market in 2017.

Axis bank Freecharge

India's private sector bank Axis Bank acquired payment wallet Freecharge in 2017. The bank has entered into an agreement with Jasper Infotech Private Limited to acquire 100% stake in its subsidiaries viz. FreeCharge Payment Technologies Private Limited and Accelyst Solutions Private Limited, according to an Axis Bank statement.

Flipkart and eBay

Indian e-commerce major Flipkart acquired the Indian wing of eBay. The transaction was announced in April 2017 and completed in August 2017. eBay and Flipkart have also entered into an agreement for cross-border sale.

Airtel and Telenor

In February 2017, Telecom major Bharti Airtel acquired Telenor (India) Communications Private Limited. After the acquisition, Airtel owns and manages Telenor's spectrum, operations, licenses including its employees and customer base of 44 million.

Tech Mahindra and CJS Solutions

Indian software company Tech Mahindra Ltd acquired US-based healthcare IT consulting firm CJS Solutions Group LLC. With the acquisition, Tech Mahindra Ltd. would have the ability to cross-sell Tech Mahindra's services to a new set of clients of CJS Solutions and thereby boost its revenues.

Wipro Ltd and InfoSERVER S.A.

India's software services exporter Wipro has entered into a pact to acquire Brazilian IT firm InfoSERVER S.A in 2017. InfoSERVER provides custom application development and software deployment services to clients. The company is mainly focused on the Brazilian market. The acquisition is in line with Wipro's aim to expand its presence in the Latin America market.