MUFG-Shriram Finance To RBL Bank-Emirates NBD: Five Biggest Cross-Border Deals In Indian Banking This Year

In a major development for the Indian banking and finance sector, MUFG has confirmed it will invest almost Rs 40,000 crore in the non-banking financial company Shriram Finance.

This will mark the biggest investment by a foreign entity in an Indian bank, overtaking the Rs 26,000 crore investment Emirates NBD made in RBL Bank earlier this year.

As we gear up for 2026, we will take at some of the biggest cross-border deals that took place in the Indian banking space in 2025.

MUFG's chunky Rs 40,000 crore investment to acquire 20% stake in Shriram Finance will go down in one of the biggest cross-border deals in the banking sector in recent memory.

As part of the agreement, MUFG will acquire 47.1 crore shares at the floor price of `840.93/share.

While MUFG won't have a controlling stake, the Japan-based entity will have the right to appoint 2 nominee directors on the board of Shriram Finance.

Marked as one of the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Indian banking sector, in which involved a direct of control, Emirates NBD's acquisition of 60% controlling stake in RBL Bank, worth $3 billion or Rs 26,850 crore, raised many eyebrows.

The transaction was structured via a preferential issue of shares and is strategically designed to capture the growing India-UAE trade and remittance corridor.

While MUFG's deal with Shriram Finance will only see minor changes to the controlling rights, Emirates NBD, thanks to its 60% stake, can merge its Indian branch operations into RBL Bank.

The third biggest cross-border deal of the year in the Indian banking space saw Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in Japan acquiring a 24% stake in Yes Bank, worth around Rs 16,333 crore.

While SMBC had initially acquired a 20% stake for Rs 13,483 crore in May 2025, it later increased its stake by purchasing an additional 4.2% from private equity firm Carlyle for approximately Rs 2,850 crore.

In October, Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company (IHC) had acquired a massive 43.5% stake in Sammaan Capital, in what was the largest FDI investment into a housing finance corporation.

Formerly known as India Bulls Housing Finance, Sammaan Capital is one of the India's largest NBFCs and the investment from IHC came as part of the Abu Dhabi-based firm's plans to increase exposure to a booming Indian housing finance ecosystem.

While IDFC First Bank completed its merger with its parent IDFC Ltd. in 2024 in order to simply the corporate structure, 2025 saw the lender attract fresh equity infusion from global giants Warburg Pincus and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

Both firms acquired minority stake in IDFC First Bank in a combined deal worth around Rs 7,500 crore.

The fresh infusion will help IDFC First Bank push its aggressive retail growth strategy.