Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Who Was 62 Years Old When He Passed Away, Was An Indian Billionaire-investor
It has been reported that the billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, locally known as India’s Warren Buffett because of his penchant for equity investing, has passed away. He was 62 years old when he passed away.
It is believed that the veteran stock market investor was a self-made trader and had invested in several established businesses and startups, including Japan’s newest airline, Akasa Air, one of the country’s newest airlines.
Among the most influential voices in India’s stock market, Jhunjhunwala was known for selecting stocks that were suitable for long-term investments.
In spite of the fact that equity investments have not yet emerged as a major source of household savings in the world’s second-most populous nation, and they account for less than 5% of the nation’s assets, the nation has been experiencing a frenzy of retail investments in the equity market in recent years.
As a result of the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020, India has added about 58 million new retail investors, more than the population of South Korea.
It was reported by Bloomberg News in 2005 that Jhunjhunwala attributed his strategy of picking stocks ahead of their growth cycles to the billionaire George Soros and Hong Kong investor Marc Faber, while he said Warren Buffett, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Berkshire Hathaway, was a role model for him.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Who Was 62 Years Old When He Passed Away, Was An Indian Billionaire-investor
In a tweet he posted on Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed that Jhunjhunwala had died.
There is no doubt that the investor was “indomitable” and left behind an indelible mark on the financial world with his contributions.
Jhunjhunwala has been instrumental in the public offering of a number of privately held companies, including Star Health and Allied Insurance Co., Ltd., and the gaming company, Nazara Technologies, Ltd. His latest venture was Akasa, which started operations earlier this month.
Moreover, he was somebody who had the ability to understand the way businesses are run and the way the market works, said Motilal Oswal, a co-founder of Mumbai-based Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd., one of the biggest brokerage firms in India. “That is a very rare occurrence. In recent years, when he was nearing his 60s and wasn’t doing so well, he has made some of his biggest investments.”
The journey from $100 to billions of dollars
The experience of watching his father, a retired tax commissioner, juggle market investments throughout his childhood led to Jhunjhunwala’s fascination with stocks as a child, he said in an interview. In 1985, when he was 25 years old, he borrowed $100 from his brother-in-law in order to start investing in stocks.
This was after he graduated with honors from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai.
As a result of the acquisition of Titan Ltd. shares, he has made some of the most profitable investments of his life.
His bets were placed in the early 2000s on the Tata Group, a company that primarily manufactured watches and was facing labor issues at the time.
As of June, Jhunjhunwala, along with his wife, owned about a 4% stake in Titan, which is now India’s largest jewelry company with about 20,000 employees.
There has been a surge of more than 26,000% in the stock price since the beginning of 2005.
In a statement released by Tata Sons, chairman N Chandrasekaran said: “Rakesh Jhunjhunwala believed in India and the enormous potential that it had,” adding, “As a result of his conviction, he consistently made bold decisions throughout his life and career.”
It was a flood of tributes that poured in. As a matter of fact, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a Twitter post that Jhunjhunwala was a “bold risk taker,” who had a strong belief in India’s capabilities and strength, according to a report.
A tweet by Uday Kotak, Asia’s richest banker and the co-founder of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., recalled his school and college mate, and stated in a tweet: “Amazingly sharp in understanding financial markets.”