Expect deal environment to improve after budget, says Pankaj Chopda of Grant Thornton India

May 2019 has seen decreased deal activity compared to May 2018 with a 17 percent fall in volumes and an 83 percent drop in deal values. However, compared to April 2019, May saw a 6 percent increase in deal value. To discuss the trends in the mergers and acquisitions CNBC-TV18 spoke to Pankaj Chopda, director at Grant Thornton India.

Chopda said: "April 2018 there were two large deals which were reported — the Walmart-Flipkart transaction of $16 billion plus the Tata Steel and Bhushan Steel deal of $5.5 billion. So, if we exclude these two deals, we are looking at $5.5 billion versus a $4.5 billion, that is about an 18 percent decline. So, there has been a slowdown in the activity in the last few months largely attributable to investors waiting in for some kind of a stability on the political environment."