 "Rakesh Jhunjhunwala")
Market experts on Sunday mourned the demise of ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and said his strong belief in the country's growth story and "unshakeable" confidence in markets made him one of a kind.
The 62-year-old Jhunjhunwala passed away on Sunday morning in Mumbai.
Condoling his death, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath tweeted, "There will never again be someone like you, RIP."
Often referred to as 'India's Warren Buffett' and the 'Big Bull' of Indian markets, Jhunjhunwala's net worth was USD 5.8 billion (about Rs 46,000 crore), according to Forbes.
B Gopkumar - MD and CEO, Axis Securities, said Jhunjhunwala will be missed for the sheer energy he brought to the TV studios.
"His strong belief in India growth story and his bullishness on Indian markets are a tale of legend. He proved to each and everyone that if one stays invested in quality companies for long then wealth generation is almost assured," he added.
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Hailing Jhunjhunwala as the biggest believer in the India story, Sushant Bhansali, CEO, Ambit Asset Management, said the ace investor put not only his words but his entire wealth behind this story and got rewarded for it.
Bhansali described Jhunjhunwala as a roaring titan of long-term investing in India.
"A man of passion, simplicity and high conviction he inspired millions of people to believe and invest in the equity participation with Indian corporates. A true legend we all will miss. Be it investor calls, conferences, business TV channels, his roaring presence will be truly missed," he added.
Jhunjhunwala started off his journey in stock markets while still in college with a capital of just Rs 5,000. He began investing in 1985 when the BSE's benchmark index Sensex was at 150. It now trades at over 59,000.
He had investments in more than three dozen companies, the most valuable being watch and jewellery maker Titan, part of the Tata conglomerate. His portfolio included companies like Star Health, Rallis India, Escorts, Canara Bank, Indian Hotels Company, Agro Tech Foods, Nazara Technologies and Tata Motors.
According to trendlyne data, Jhunjhunwala and associates publicly held 32 stocks with a net worth of over Rs 31,905 crore at the end of the June 2022 quarter.
Kamlesh Shah, President, Association of National Exchanges Members of India (ANMI), a grouping of 900 stock brokers, remembered Jhunjhunwala as a visionary investor whose belief in the market was unshakeable.
"I have never seen a person with positive approach irrespective of market conditions. He was a pillar of strength for the entire investing community. His inspiration was force behind taking India into world's top five club with market capitalisation of USD 3.21 trillion as of today," he said.
Nishant Srivastava, Head - Retail Broking and Distribution at Reliance Securities, said Jhunjhunwala was one of the best investors who always believed in the India growth story and remained a bullish investor in his lifetime career.
Srivastava also remembered the Big Bull's words about the India story.
"You may call me a fool, you may call me anything, I may not live to see it but I can tell you one thing -- India will overtake China in the next 25 years," Jhunjhunwala had said last year.
Jhunjhunwala earned his first big profit in 1986 when he bought 5,000 shares of Tata Tea at Rs 43 and the stock rose to Rs 143 within three months. In three years, he earned Rs 20-25 lakh.
His privately-owned stock trading firm Rare Enterprises derived its name from the first two letters of his name and that of his wife Rekha, who is also a stock market investor.
His latest foray was in the heavily-regulated airlines sector with Akasa Air.
ANMI's Shah said Jhunjhunwala was a man with dreams and Akasa Air shows that even sky is not the limit for ambition.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
