Rakesh Jhunjhunwala: Remembering the investor with Midas touch

August 14 marks the first death anniversary of ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. Fondly referred as the Big Bull and Warren Buffett of India, Jhunjhunwala was an eternal bull, who had deep conviction that this is India's era and that "the mother of all bull runs" was ahead of domestic stocks. He was a self-made trader, investor and entrepreneur, who went on to amass Rs 48,000 crore fortunes from an initial humble investment of Rs 5,000. He has left a legacy and millions of his admirers behind.

For Jhunjhunwala, risk was the essence of life. For him, if one does not take risk, s/he is nothing. The investor with the 'Midas touch' was also a quick learner and was never shy of accepting his mistakes. "I try to predict. I am right sometimes and wrong sometimes. When I am wrong, I learn." This was his words at India Today Conclave 2021. 

A chartered accountant, Jhunjhunwala was a son of an income tax officer who began making his mark on Dalal Street in 1985. This was the time when the BSE Sensex was an nascent level of 150.  At the time he passed away, he was the largest individual investor in India.

Many of his portfolio stocks such as Lupin, Apollo Tyres, Rallis India, BEML, Crisil, Escorts Praj Industries, Tata Communications and Apollo Hospitals delivered him multibagger returns over his long journey in the domestic stock market. 

But in value terms, he made the biggest chunk of his fortunes from investments in Titan Company. At last count, the Jhunjhunwala family owned Rs 14,290 crore worth Titan Company shares. Jhunjhunwala had Rare Enterprises as his trading and investment firm, which derived its name from the first two initials of Rakesh and his wife Rekha Jhunjhunwala. 

The Big Bull was known to stay bullish even in the most bearish phases of the market. He once reportedly suggested that 98 per cent of the fortunes he made in the stock market was by being a bull. “One can only try to predict risk, debt, market but cannot know the outcome fully. Only the future can tell us what it is,” he once said. 

Jhunjhunwala was as good a trader as investor. He once said that sometimes the investor inside him used to believe a particular portfolio stock is overpriced but his technical skills convinced him the stock could be overvalued but can get more overvalued. Over years, many of his quotes became inspirations to budding investors. One of them was: "When there's doom and gloom, don't forget there's darkness before dawn."

Jhunjhunwala always felt that the stock market was rational and above individuals. An individual can never be smarter than the market, he used to say.

"Always respect the price. At every price, there is a buyer and a seller. Only the future decides who is right. Learn to respect what you can get wrong," he once said.

Jhunjhunwala passed away at 62 due to a sudden cardiac arrest this day last year. He was brought to Candy Breach Hospital  in Mumbai early morning where he was declared dead. 

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