One up on Dalal Street

Manappuram General Finance & Leasing does not roll easily off the tongue, but seasoned investors will remember this company with more than a little fondness. The fi nancial services fi rm that is based in Thrissur district of Kerala is best known for providing loans against gold. It is also equally known for the handsome returns it has provided both in the short term as well as in the long term. For instance, Rs 10,000 invested in this stock a decade ago is worth a cool Rs 50.88 lakh today.

That is the main takeaway in this fascinating exercise that aims to capture the relative growth of Rs 10,000 invested over four scenarios: One, over a decade; two, over fi ve years; three, the period starting with the day markets crashed to a low of below 8,000 in end-October 2008 till date; and the fourth period we have considered is the past one year.

A look at the mind-boggling fi gures in the table for 10 years only goes to prove that Warren Buffett was dead right when he said: Only buy something that you would be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.