Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was invested in India’s growth story above all else

Serial investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala became a self-made billionaire through his calculated bets on the stock market at a time when not many traded in India. His success story is closely intertwined with the success of India where he enjoyed a cult following due to his shrewd financial decisions.
India lost its foremost stock market investment guru to a cardiac arrest on August 14, 2022. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, a name that aptly evokes the sound of jingling money, was truly the pied piper of the Indian stock market and a case study for many who were driven to build their own pile of wealth. His investments were tracked closely and others followed in his footsteps even as they wondered what the ace serial investor saw in the company he placed his bets on. His investments would often be shared on WhatsApp groups and the name Jhunjhunwala being linked to any new stock would elevate it in the eyes of the public.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala earned massive wealth - he was the 36th richest man in India on the Forbes list for 2021 and the 438th billionaire on Forbes List 2022. But it is his acumen for picking the right stocks (mostly) that has won him public adulation. His word is gospel – the Ten Commandments for investment and trading formulated by the man fondly called RJ by friends are one of the oft quoted tips on wealth building anyone will find on the internet. His popularity was such that he even had fan pages (which he did not endorse).

Dream of the common man

Jhunjhunwala’s financial trajectory is the dream of the common man who hopes to get rich by trading in the stock market. The kind of success he has tasted may have been made possible partly because of him being at the right place at the right time. He began investing roughly at a time when India was opening up its economy. However, his uncanny intuition of picking the right stocks boosted his wealth from Rs 1 crore in 1988 to Rs 200 crore by 1993.
Jhunjhunwala was born just over a decade after India’s independence – on July 5, 1960. Coming from a generation that witnessed profound changes in a country trying to shape its future, Jhunjhunwala was always a staunch believer in India’s growth story.
He grew up in Mumbai, where his father was posted as an Income Tax Officer and graduated from Sydenham College in 1985 after which he joined the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He then chose a career in investing and trading in the stock market in 1984 at a time when the Sensex index was at around 150, it now trades at over 59,000.
He invested a sum of Rs 5000 in Tata Tea which rose from Rs 43 apiece to a whopping Rs 143 apiece in just three months of his buying.Over the next three years he brewed success from his tea investments making gains of around Rs 25 lakhs – his first big profit. In 2022, Jhunjhunwala still keeps a Tata-backed company (Titan Company) in his portfolio.
Jhunjhunwala had always been transparent about his investments and he had his share of setbacks such that the rise in his wealth was not a steep upward slope but a roller coaster ride. His friends say that he was a maverick and a risk-taker, and these characteristics set him apart from the rest. He was equally known for his mercurial temper as he was for fostering relationships with others. He has often revealed in interviews that the bonds he built with people counted over anything else.
He was known to talk profits and philosophy in the same breath and believed success is always transient and temporary.

What does it take to be RJ?

Not just the stock market, Jhunjhunwala also made investments in Bollywood movies and other firms including startups that are not listed. He backed Akasa Air which began its commercial operations a week ago. The 62-year-old was last publicly seen at the launch, where he appeared in a wheelchair. He also managed an asset firm Rare Enterprises (a name coined by clubbing the ‘Ra’ from Rakesh and ‘Re’ from his wife Rekha’s name).
When Jhunjhunwala first entered the billionaire club in 2008, he recalled that his father was not interested in his net worth but how much he was giving away. And Jhunjhunwala has been one of India’s most notable billionaire philanthropists. He had said a couple of years ago that he wanted to give away 25% of his wealth within his lifetime. He funded Ashoka University which said in a statement mourning the investor’s demise that he was due to launch an economics school that would be his namesake later this year. Jhunjhunwala also donated regularly to Agastya International Foundation, which provides science education to the poor.
Banker Uday Kotak, a self-made billionaire like Jhunjhunwala, remembered his school and college mate in a tweet: “Rakesh Jhunjhunwala…believed stock India was undervalued. He is right. Amazingly sharp in understanding financial markets. We spoke regularly, more so during Covid. Will miss you Rakesh!”
In an interview to Outlook magazine, the big bull of Dalal Street had contemplated on his success and answered the most asked question- What does it take to be Rakesh Jhunjhunwala?
“The competition has increased in markets. It is not so easy to make money in markets as it was back then. 30 years ago, markets were inefficient, but now markets are more efficient. In the past, information gap was higher and methodologies were not as transparent as they are now. Everybody was not participating and people were creating scams. Now, it is a well-regulated and conducted market,” he had revealed.
Yet even during the years the Indian market was finding its feet, Jhunjhunwala remained bullish about the stock market and India’s economic prospects. His first commandment asks for investors to be an optimist, and so he was, particularly about his longest investment of all – the one in India’s growth story.
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