India Inc witnessed a wave of high-value mergers and acquisitions in 2025, cutting across banking, retail, energy, digital commerce and cement. Major conglomerates moved aggressively to expand scale, improve integration and tighten control across core businesses, underscoring a wider shift towards consolidation and long-term dominance in key sectors.
Disney Hotstar Jio Merger
JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar have formally merged to form JioHotstar, launched on February 14 under JioStar, the Reliance Industries–Disney joint venture. The integration brings together two of India’s biggest streaming platforms, unifying their content libraries, sports rights and technology for a wider entertainment offering.
Existing Disney+ Hotstar subscribers will retain their current plans — Rs 149 for mobile, Rs 299 for Super and Rs 349 for Premium for three months. JioCinema Premium users are being upgraded to JioHotstar Premium for the rest of their subscription period. JioStar Entertainment CEO Kevin Vaz said pricing remains unchanged, including the Rs 149 quarterly mobile plan and Rs 499 quarterly ad-free plan.
JioHotstar will feature an expanded slate of global content from NBCUniversal Peacock, Warner Bros, Discovery, HBO and Paramount.
Banking Sector: Consolidation Picks Up Pace
A key internal restructuring within the ICICI Group was completed with the merger of ICICI Securities into ICICI Bank, simplifying the group’s corporate structure by bringing the broking arm directly under the banking parent.
After all regulatory and procedural clearances were secured, ICICI Securities became a wholly owned subsidiary of ICICI Bank and was delisted from the stock exchanges in March 2025.
The delisting framework, first announced on June 29, 2023, laid out a share-swap ratio under which shareholders of ICICI Securities were entitled to receive 67 shares of ICICI Bank for every 100 shares held in the brokerage firm.
The proposal received strong shareholder approval, with 93.82 per cent of total equity shareholders and 71.89 per cent of public shareholders voting in favour, crossing the two-thirds public shareholder threshold required under SEBI rules.
Reliance Group Expands Retail And Consumer Footprint
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group pushed ahead with its acquisition-driven growth in the consumer and retail space through 2025.
Reliance Retail completed the acquisition of Kelvinator, bolstering its presence in the consumer appliances segment. In a separate strategic move, Reliance Consumer Products Ltd expanded its portfolio by acquiring Shunya.
Reliance Retail acquired the Kelvinator brand from the Electrolux Group in a transaction valued at SEK 180 million (around Rs 160 crore). The retailer had earlier operated the brand in India under a licensing arrangement with Electrolux Home Products Inc.
Additionally, in August 2025, Reliance Consumer Products Ltd. (RCPL) acquired a majority stake in Naturedge Beverages, the company behind Shunya zero-sugar, herbal-infused drinks, forming a joint venture to scale the brand across India and tap into the growing functional beverage market.
Tata Group’s Digital Super-App Push
The Tata Group accelerated its digital integration strategy through Tata Neu, with Tata Digital bringing BigBasket, Croma and 1mg onto a single consumer-facing platform.
This integration positioned the group’s digital ambitions around a unified ecosystem, combining e-commerce, electronics retail and healthcare services within one digital framework.
The approach centred on consolidating capabilities across these businesses to strengthen the Tata Group’s reach in India’s digital consumer economy.
Cement Sector Sees Aggressive Mergers
The cement sector emerged as one of the most active spaces for mergers and acquisitions during 2025.
UltraTech Cement completed the acquisition of Kesoram Industries, strengthening its manufacturing footprint and operational scale. The transaction became effective on March 1, 2025, under a composite scheme cleared by regulators such as the NCLT and CCI. While the cement business shifted into UltraTech, Kesoram continued to retain its rayon, paper and chemicals businesses.
Consolidation also accelerated through the integration of Ambuja Cements, Sanghi Industries and Penna Cement Industries under the Adani Group’s cement plans. Ambuja Cements moved to absorb its recently acquired subsidiaries, Sanghi Industries (SIL) and Penna Cement Industries (PCIL), aiming to build a more efficient and streamlined entity.
The transactions were structured through share swaps, including an exchange of 12 Ambuja shares for every 100 Sanghi shares, with the mergers expected to be completed in late 2025 or early 2026. This process significantly expanded Ambuja’s production capacity and national footprint.
What’s Coming Ahead?
Meanwhile, the global streaming sector is seeing upheaval. Netflix has made an $83-billion bid for Warner Bros’ studio and streaming assets, now under regulatory scrutiny in the US and Europe. Paramount-Skydance has simultaneously launched a hostile takeover attempt for Warner Bros Discovery. The outcome of either move could affect the JioStar ecosystem in India.
Reliance Industries has also confirmed the merger of Star Television Productions with JioStar, effective November 30, valuing the combined entity at $8.5 billion.
The mergers and acquisitions landscape in 2025 highlighted a clear shift by India’s largest corporate groups towards consolidation, vertical integration and long-term capacity expansion. Activity across banking, retail, energy, digital platforms and cement reflected a sustained push by corporate India to build scale and strengthen competitive positions across sectors.
