As many as 57 M&A deals were reached in September compared to 23 deals worth $597 million signed during the corresponding month last year, according to Grant Thornton’s latest Deal Tracker.

Only two deals were valued at more than $50 million as most of the activities were reported in hospitality, power and energy and infrastructure related sectors.

The value of total 82 deals, including private equity and qualified institutional placement announced in September 2010, was put at $1.49 billion. Similarly, the value of domestic M&A deals, which were flavor of the month, were put at $380 million in the country.

While the total value of outbound deals - wherein Indian companies took over businesses outside the country - amounted to $210 million, inbound deals, wherein foreign entities acquired Indian firms, stood at $10 million.

In September 2009, there were 15 outbound deals worth $210 million compared to $10 million through nine deals. Similarly, 11 domestic deals stood at $580 million and inbound deals constituted only a minuscule chunk with $4 million worth of M&A deals through three deals.

Reliance Industries’ 14.12 percent acquisition in EIH for $217.23 million remained the top M&A deal last month. Other major deals included KEC International’s acquisition of SAE Towers for $95 million, followed by Reliance ADAG’s 15 percent stake acquisition in KGS Developers for $47.87 million.

As top five M&A deals accounted for 71 percent of the total deal value, a sector-wise analysis showed that hospitality was the most sought-after sector, attracting deals worth $224.47 million, said Grant Thornton.

It was followed by power and energy ($95 million), IT & ITeS ($86.65 million), real estate ($47.87 million) and banking and financial services ($31.79 million), the report added.

India also witnessed some major fall off in terms of mergers as deals worth $27 billion had soured so far this year in the country, according to another research firm.

As many as nine deals have been called off this far in 2010, said VCC Edge, adding that the biggest non-starter was Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries’ $14.5 billion bid for LyondellBasell.

It was followed — in terms of deal value —by the cancellation of his younger brother Anil Ambani-run Reliance Communications’ $10.8 billion merger deal with GTL Infra.

Interestingly, the Ambani brothers, who had been most active in merger and acquisition activity this year, accounted for over $25 billion of the deals in 2010 that could not take off in 2010.

Globally, a total of 2,599 M&A deals worth $512.4 billion were announced during the last quarter, up from 2,421 deals worth $321.3 billion during the same period last year, according to yet another figures released by Legal Week’s exclusive data provider Mergermarket.