Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Success Story: From ₹5,000 to ₹45,000 crores

“Don’t be afraid to take risks but take only that much which you can afford to take so that there remains a scope to take another risk”. These are some of the famous lines of the Indian stock market maverick Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and this was his funda regarding success and failure.

 

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala took his last breath around 6:45 am on 14th August 2022 as he was already suffering from various medical conditions and eventually succumbed to a heart attack, he was 62 years old when he passed away. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's net worth was around Rs45,000 crores and he made his fame and fortune by calling the markets right. Apart from being an ace investor investing in various companies, he has founded and been in the management of several companies also.

 

How he has gone from the starting capital of just Rs5000 to Rs45,000 crores and is now the stuff of urban legend. In addition to being chairman of Hungama Media and Aptech, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala served on the boards of several companies, including Provogue India, Concord Biotech, Viceroy Hotels, and Geojit Financial Services. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s acute knowledge of the stock market earned him enormous respect in the Indian Stock market circle.

 

He was an inspiration for all the budding investors and for all those who wanted to make it big in the stock market. Known for his sharp investing mindset and shrewd trading tactics Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was given various titles such as the Warren Buffet of India, the Big Bull of Indian Stock Market, and the Oracle of the Dalal Street.

 

 

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s Early Life & Family

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was born on July 5, 1960, in a Rajasthani family in Hyderabad, he grew up in Bombay and his father was an Income Tax commissioner. He completed his graduation in commerce from Sydenham College in Mumbai and went on to become a Chartered Accountant. Rakesh Jhunjhunwal’s family includes his wife Rekha jhunjhunwala with whom he got married in 1987. Together they have three children – two boys and a girl.

 

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was an accountant by profession but a trader by heart. He had a CA ahead of his name which he cherished to date and could have easily gone on to have a safe and successful career in the field of accountancy but from the initial days only he had different plans and was intrigued by the world of the stock market when he used to hear his father discuss the stock market among his friends and wanted to make it his profession.

 

When Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was about to start out his investment journey his father laid out certain conditions which were that he will first have to complete his chartered accountancy and he will not ask for any financial assistance from neither him nor his father’s friends.

 

 

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s Early days in Stock Market

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s first big bet came in 1986 when took a loan of 2.5 lakhs from his brother’s client and promised him a return of around 18%. He purchased 5000 shares from that money at Rs.43 per share. In just 3 months Tata Tea’s share price went up to Rs143 per share and he earned around Rs25 lakhs from selling these shares. This was just the first of the big bets which he made in his entire journey.

 

Rakesh Jhunjhunwal’s second big bet came in the recession of 1986 when he placed his money in Tata Power. It was a time when the majority was hesitant to put their money in the stock market, the big bull dared to do so and this bet skyrocketed his net worth to Rs50 lakhs.

 

In 1989, VP Singh's government when Finance Minister Madhu Dhanwate presented the budget, everyone was expecting it to be a socialistic budget but Rakesh Jhunjhunwala thought otherwise and invested heavily in the market, and again his assessment proved to be right as it was a business focussed budget and his net worth within 6 months of the announcement of the budget shot up to around 40-50 crores.

 

 

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s Biggest Bet

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s biggest bet came in 2002-03 when he purchased 4.4 Crores shares of Titan at Rs 3 per share at a time when Titan was going through a rough phase and was facing major internal and external issues such as disputes between the management and the Employees Union and rising prices of various raw materials especially Gold which hampered the demand and thus profitability of the company.

 

But Rakesh Jhunjhunwala saw what most could not, he noticed that even during tough times the jewelry business of the company was growing substantially and the company implemented various schemes which were designed to enhance the profitability of the company and save costs.

 

Another major call that Jhunjhunwala took in this decision was to hold onto the shares of Titan. At one point the share prices of Titan rose to 80Rs per share and then again declined to Rs30 per share but Jhunjhunwala neither got excited in highs nor agitated in lows and remained true to his belief and invested. Currently, the market price of Titan is Rs2400 per share, and Jhunjhunwala’s holding in Titan is worth Rs11000 crores. This shows his knack for picking the right stocks and his long-term vision.

 

Rakesh jhunjhunwala Stocks Portfolio

Stock Name	Holdings (%)	Holding Value (Rs cr.)
Aptech Ltd	23.38 %	274.3
Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Ltd	17.51 %	6,607.44
Metro Brands Ltd	14.43 %	2,068.09
NCC Ltd	12.84 %	501.72
Nazara Technologies Ltd	10.10 %	409.4
Rallis India Ltd	9.81 %	391.47
Bilcare Ltd	8.48 %	13.92
Agro Tech Foods Ltd	8.22 %	163.27
Va Tech Wabag Ltd	8.04 %	125.23
Geojit Financial Services Ltd	7.55 %	96.68
Delta Corp Ltd	7.48 %	455.8
Jubilant Pharmova Ltd	6.76 %	442.75
Crisil Ltd	5.48 %	1,496.88
Titan Company Ltd	5.05 %	9,718.08
Jubilant Ingrevia Ltd	4.72 %	344.15
Autoline Industries Ltd	4.62 %	10.43
Karur Vysya Bank Ltd	4.50 %	154.91
Fortis Healthcare Ltd	4.23 %	767.92
Federal Bank Ltd	3.65 %	651.96
Anant Raj Ltd	3.39 %	58.65
Dishman Carbogen Amcis Ltd	3.18 %	60.88
Indian Hotels Company Ltd	2.12 %	680.78
Wockhardt Ltd	2.08 %	84.98
D B Realty Ltd	2.06 %	34.8
Prozone Intu Properties Ltd	2.06 %	7.42
Canara Bank	1.96 %	701.45
Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd	1.60 %	85.23
National Aluminium Company Ltd	1.36 %	244.25
Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd	1.28 %	73.26
Orient Cement Ltd	1.22 %	29.53
Man Infraconstruction Ltd	1.21 %	41.67
Tata Motors Ltd	1.18 %	1,629.46
TV18 Broadcast Ltd	1.17 %	84.3
Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd	1.10 %	38.58
Tata Communications Ltd	1.08 %	302.82

 

Last year on 15th September 2021, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s invested Rs120 crores in Zee Entertainment and after 10 days only the news came in about the merger of Sony Pictures and Zee Entertainment, and as soon the news broke out Zee entertainment’s share prices went up by 30% and Jhunjhunwala earned 50 crores in just 50 days.

 

 

Promoter Holdings of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

In his last days, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala owned 44 stocks publicly in his portfolio and his net worth was around 45,000 crores and also owned his own stock trading firm called RARE enterprises. Just a week ago, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s airline – Akasa Air was launched. Although a majority of airline companies are loss-making entities and he knows it really well but still he invested in this airline, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s also said that he is ready for Failure which tells about his risk-taking appetite and shows that he stands for what he believes in.

Companies	Position
Akasa Air	Founder
Hungama Media	Chairman
Aptech	Chairman
Provogue India	Board of Members
Concord Biotech	Board of Members
Geojit Financial Services	Board of Members
Viceroy Hotels	Board of Members

 

Rakesh Jhunjhuwala was always bullish about India’s growth and believed firmly in India’s growth story. He used to donate almost 25% of his yearly earnings to charity causes and also entered the Edelgive Hurun India Philanthropy list 2021 with a yearly donation of Rs50 crores. He was a role model to many investors and we may have lost him but his learnings will always be there as a guiding light for many future budding investors.