New Delhi, Jul 27 () India M&A deal value in the first half of this year has reached USD 29.2 billion, an all time high since 2001, according to Mergermarket report.

The January-June period of this year attracted 181 deals worth USD 29.2 billion, 56.7 per cent higher compared with the corresponding period last year and even surpassed the first half 2012 level which was the historical high for deal making in India, the global deal tracking firm said. The top five deals accounted for USD 17.6 billion, which comprised 60.3 per cent of total deal value. Moreover, the top five deals of this year almost double the top five deals' value in 2016, the report said.

, the industrials and chemicals sector saw 30 deals worth USD 1.6 billion during the first half of 2017, an increase of 38 per cent in deal value and the deal count increased from 26 to 30 in the same period of 2016. According to

, paint sector in India may see a lot of M&A activities in the medium term, due to the growing urbanisation and increasing disposable income for the middle class. Mergermarket expects the paint market to reach USD 106 billion by 2019-2020 from USD 60.27 billion. Technology was still one of the most active target sectors by deal number with a 61 per cent increase in deal value to USD 4 billion compared with the first half of 2016. The consolidation among the e-commerce sector intensified in India. Tencent Holdings, eBay and

's USD 1.4 billion purchase of

for a 12.07 per cent stake topped the deals table in the first half of this year.

Another noteworthy deal was Chinese market leader

's USD 252 million acquisition of 4.3 per cent in One97 Communication that owns Paytm.

was the third biggest M&A sector by deal volume of 17 deals valued USD 2 billion in the first half of 2017, nine of them are done by foreign investors.

"With a combined push by the private sectors and various measures taken by India government to facilitate easy access to finance for micro to medium enterprises, this sector will remain active in the next half year," the report said. DRR MR ARD