Indian financial services firms are optimistic about merger and acquisition deals over the next year, with as many as 44% of respondents citing expansion as key strategy amid the current economic scenario, a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey says.
According to the PwC survey of 215 senior financial services executives in the Asia-Pacific region, about 44% of respondents in India cite expansion as their key strategy in the current economic climate.

About 50% of the respondents said they plan to invest further in their own businesses, while 25% were planning to enter into new business lines and 50% into new markets.

It is expected that this time M&A would be led by a need for consolidation and profitability rather than increasing scale of operations, Tanna added.