New Delhi (PTI): India Inc has announced 92 merger and acquisition deals, valued at nearly six billion dollars, in the first two months of the new calender year, a global consultancy firm has said.

Banking and financial services, and shipping and ports attracted the maximum deals during the period.

The M&A scene has received a major boost from the latest Tata Motors acquisition of premium car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from US automobile firm for 2.30 billion dollars. The deal also led to culmination of Ford's decision last August to explore strategic options for the JLR business.

"There have been 92 merger and acquisition deals worth USD 5.96 billion in the first two months of 2008," Grant Thornton said in its latest issue 'Dealtracker'.

Outbound deals have outnumbered domestic ones in terms of value breakup. Domestic deals accounted for USD 2.7 billion, whereas outbound deals USD 2.8 billion. Inbound deals valued USD 0.45 billion, the report showed.

The most significant M&A deal in the first two months of 2008, has been HDFC Bank's acquisition of Centurion Bank of Punjab followed by a subsequent merger.

Deals worth USD 2.51 billion were entered into in the banking and financial services, while those in the shipping and ports sector amounted to USD 1.40 billion.

In the field of private equity, there were 90 deals worth USD 3.55 billion in the first two months of this year. The top PE deal during January-February period was Citi Venture Capital and AIG's joint investment of USD 0.38 billion in Akruti City.

Real estate and infrastructure as well as power and energy sectors garnered the maximum PE investment with USD 1.13 billion USD 0.55 billion respectively.