India’s common man story didn’t stop with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, or President Droupadi Murmu; Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (RJ) also held from a middle class Rajasthani family and was born on July 5, 1960 to emerge as an Indian business magnate. His father was an Income tax officer.

 

 

Jhunjhunwala left his legacy in every Indian heart to think big and dream for a bright future for India. He use to quote, “we are yet to see the best of India. Jhunjhunwala believed that India is entering a new phase of growth, with a double-digit run rate this year and for the next few decades.” He has consistently been a big part of India’s growth story and believes that the bull market is here to stay.

 

 

Here’s a look at his interesting journey in stock market investing as he rose to be a stature of one of the biggest influencers in the Indian stock market. His investment, worth around ₹ 46,000 crore ($5.8 billion) as of 2022. He invested via his firm Rare Enterprises.

 

 

RJ’s interest in stock markets rose when he heard his father discussing the stock market with his friends. RJ’s father guided him on the market but never give him any money, nor he allowed him to ask for  initial capital from any of his friends. He started with ₹ 5,000 capital in 1985, at that time Sensex was at 150 points and it has currently crossed 59,400 points. RJ graduated from Sydenham College in Mumbai, and thereafter went on to acquire the professional degree of Chartered Accountant and never looked back and chased his dream.

 

 

RJ tasted the first big profit of ₹ 5 lakh within a year through his investment in Tata Tea. He bought 5,000 shares of the company at ₹ 43 and sold them for ₹ 143 per share. RJ learned through his experience of investing in the stock markets for a long term. He built a strong research team and developed the art of identifying stocks at a very early stage, look for multi-bagger opportunities and to grow his wealth exponentially.

 

 

RJ got married to Rekha on February 22, 1987. The couple had three children, daughter Nishtha was born on June 30, 2004 and twin sons Aryaman and Aryaveer were born on March 2 2009.

 

 

RJ has always provided due importance to his family and friends; he used to enjoyed watching movies and his favourite actors were Amitabh Bachchan and Waheeda Rehman. In the year 2010, RJ in his conversation with Deepika Padukone said, “I am really lucky I have the best of parents, best of siblings, best of wife and the best of friends. That is why I am a happy man.” It might be the turning point in his life to became a movie producer. He has produced movies like English Vinglish, Ki and Ka and Shamitabh.
 

 

RJ’s love for Tata companies started from first investment in Tata Tea and with each passing year the love was getting deeper and his portfolio valuation was getting higher. He held 1% each in Tata Motors with shares worth ₹ 1,731 crore and Tata Communication valuing ₹ 336 crore.

 

 

RJ started taking exponential journey as an investor from his investment in Sesa Goa, which is now called Vedanta Ltd. He had bought around 4,00,000 shares which was under severe stress due to fall in the price of iron ore in the year 1986. Sesa Goa’s investment pushed his net worth from ₹ 50-55 lakhs to ₹ 2 – 2.25 crores. Then came the phase in RJ’s career where he successfully invested in a number of multi-bagger stocks such as CRISIL, Praj Industries, Aurobindo Pharma and NCC.

 

 

RJ love for the Tata group continues even today, Titan remains his most valuable listed holding part of the Tata conglomerate. RJ picked up 8 crore shares of Titan in 2022-03 at an average price of ₹ 3 and the stock at Friday’s trading at roughly ₹ 2,471. He and his wife Rekha Jhunjhunwala held 5.1% or 4.49 crore shares in the company as on June 2022, worth a whopping ₹ 11,094 crore.

 

 

 

Being an active investor, RJ was an active participant in his invested companies, he was the chairman of Aptech Ltd and Hungama Digital Media Ent. Pvt Ltd and sits on the board of directors for Geojit Securities Services, Bilcare Ltd, Praj Industries Ltd, Prime Focus Ltd, Provogue India Ltd, Concord Biotech Ltd, Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd, Viceroy Hotels Ltd etc. His portfolio had a stake in 47 companies at the end of June quarter, including Titan, Star Health, Rallis India, Escorts, Canara Bank, Indian Hotels, Tata Motors and Nazara Technologies.

 

RJ’s portfolio includes some of the most divergent sectors, he owned 100.7 million shares of Star Health and Allied Insurance Company, worth ₹ 7,017 crore. In Metro, a footwear brand, his holding worth ₹ 2,255 crore, in CRISIL ₹ 1,285 crore, and Fortis ₹ 853 crore.

 

 

Recently RJ’s biggest dream came true when he launched an ultra-low cost domestic airline. He co-founded Akasha Air along with his co-founder Aditya Ghosh, former President of Indigo with 40% and 10% ownership stake respectively. Airline Akasha Air took off with its first commercial flight from Mumbai to Ahmedabad on August 7, 2022. RJ appeared publicly for the last time at the airline’s inaugural flight.

 

 

Being a philanthropist, RJ believes in charity and tries to help the poor. His association in the areas of nutrition and education was remarkable. RJ was closely associated with Agastya International Foundation, Arpan and also supports Ashoka University, Friends of Tribals Society and Olympic Gold Quest.

 

 

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala contribution to India’s growth story was immense.

 

India Inc in paying tributes to Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was indomitable. Full of life, witty and insightful, he leaves behind an indelible contribution to the financial world. He was also very passionate about India’s progress. His passing away is saddening. My condolences to his family admirers. Om Shanti.”

 

Richest Indian, Gautam Adani, "Extremely saddened by the untimely passing away of the most legendary investor that India has had. Shri Jhunjhunwala inspired an entire generation to believe in our equity markets with his brilliant views. We will miss him. India will miss him but we will never forget him. RIP,"

 

Veteran banker Deepak Parekh said, “Jhunjhunwala was a modern day legend with the optimism that gave a fillip to the Indian market trajectory. "He was a strong proponent of Indian enterprise and the ensuing uptick of the India growth story," he said. "He believed in the caliber and innovativeness of the typical Indian entrepreneur, asserting always that India would not only meet all geopolitical challenges but emerge as the front runner of the world economy."