India-focused merger and acquisition deals during the January-September period reached $24.8 billion through 309 transactions, registering a jump of 10 per cent over the same period last year, says a report. According to global deal tracking firm Mergermarket, there were 224 M&A deals worth $22.5 billion during the first nine months of the last year. The July-September quarter witnessed $6.3 billion worth deals, a 37.5 per cent decrease over April-June period, but was up 18.9 per cent in value terms as against July-September period of 2014, when there were deals worth $5.3 billion. A sector-wise analysis shows that energy, mining and utilities was the most active with 28 deals worth $3.7 billion accounting for 15 per cent of total M&A deal value. “Deal value in this space was bolstered by the $2.2 billion acquisition of Cairn India by Vedanta, the largest deal targeting the country to-date in 2015,” said the report. The report further said inbound deals were the flavour of the season, with 110 deals worth $24.4 billion announced so far in 2015 highest year-to-date value since 2012.