저자: NB FINDOC · 외국인
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In the year 2002, on a busy afternoon in Mumbai, there was silence on Dalal Street but the ringing of the phone in Rakesh ji's office broke that silence. On the other side was a broker whose voice clearly showed nervousness. Rakesh Bhai Morgan Stanley is in panic. He is going to sell a block of ₹90 lakh shares of Titan.
If you just pick up 5 lakh shares, I will get them for you at just ₹32, below the market rate. At that time the entire market was running away from Titan. The company was in loss. There were questions on the management. But Rakesh Jhunjhunwala ji took a long drag of his cigar and without blinking said, finalize the deal and take the entire stock.
This wasn't just a trading call. This was the foundation of the empire that today we call a ₹45,000 crore portfolio. The Big Bull whose crown was touched by Harshad Mehta in 1992. He was the only person to hold that crown in his hands for the next 30 years. A person who bet on India when the world considered India poor.
Today we will understand the essence of the journey from ₹5000 to ₹45,000 crore which made Rakesh Jhunjhunwala the Warren Buffett of India. Let's start this untold story of The Big Bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. Rakesh ji was born on 5 July 1960 in Hyderabad. His family was from Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan and because of this connection, Jhunjhunwala was added to his name.
His father Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala ji was an Income Tax Officer. Often his friends would come home in the evening and they would discuss the stock market. 15 year old Rakesh ji used to listen to all these things secretly every day. One day he asked his father, Papa, why do the prices in cities fluctuate every day ?
The father replied, son, read the newspaper. Understand the relationship between news and share price. You will understand everything gradually. This was the moment when the seed of stock market was sown in Rakesh ji's mind for the first time. But father put a condition, complete your studies first.
Rakesh ji did B.Com from Sydenham College and became a Chartered Accountant in 1985. The father wanted his son to have a stable job. But Rakesh ji's heart beat in Dalal Street. When he expressed his desire to enter the market to his father and asked for some money, his father flatly refused. Do n't ask me for money and don't borrow it from any friend either.
When Rakesh ji checked his pocket, he had only ₹5,000 of his savings. But he had a great passion to enter the market. In the year 1985, he entered the stock market with just ₹5,000. At that time the Sensex was only around 150. He initially took some small trades so that he could understand the market movements.
Meanwhile, his elder brother, who was himself a CA, brought a rich woman to Rakesh ji. That woman wanted to invest her money in the right place. In those days, banks used to give 12 to 13% interest on FD. But Rakesh ji promised to give 18% interest to that woman and took an investment of Rs 2.5 lakh from her.
After this, through some more clients, he collected a total fund of ₹1 lakh and then came the year 1986. Rakesh ji placed his first big bet on Tata T shares. He bought 5000 shares at ₹43. Within just 3 months, the price of Tata T reached ₹143. Profit straight ₹5 lakh. This was his first major victory.
But the real picture was yet to come. In the year 1989, India's mining company Sesa Goa, which we know today as Vedanta. Was suffering huge losses due to the global crisis. The share price had fallen to just ₹28. Rakesh collected ₹1 crore from all his savings and borrowed some money and bet the entire amount on the cities of Sesa Goa.
Just imagine how big a sum ₹1 crore was for a middle class boy in those days. But Rakesh ji had full confidence in his research. This was the biggest and most dangerous risk of his life. But luck favoured him. Within a few years, this stock rocketed and reached the level of ₹2200. Sesa Goa shares made Rakesh ji a millionaire.
The boy who once had only ₹5000 in his pocket, paid income tax of ₹1 lakh for the first time that year. During this period, a very emotional and famous incident is related to Rakesh ji's life. He married Rekha ji in the year 1987. Rekha ji belonged to a rich family. Where all such luxuries like car were available.
But after marriage, there was no AC in Rakesh ji's house at that time. Rekha ji often demanded such things. But at that time Rakesh ji was investing money in the market and increasing his capital. Then came the year 1990. At that time there was VP Singh ji's government. There was a buzz in the corridors of Delhi as Finance Minister Madhu Dandavate was about to present the budget.
The market was scared. Everyone thought the budget would be anti-business. But Rakesh ji believed that VP Singh's government would not do this. Rakesh ji put in all his efforts and traded that day and a miracle happened. His net worth increased from ₹3 crore to ₹20 crore in that one night. The next morning he gifted a wonderful AC to Rekha ji and said something important.
Hobbies should always be fulfilled with the profits from investments. Not from your original capital. Now the question arises that where did Rakesh ji get the courage to play such a big game ? Actually, he met two such great people in Dalal Street who changed his thinking. Earlier there was Radhakishan Damani ji who is the owner of DMart today.
Rakesh ji considered him his guru and elder brother and the other was Manu Manik who was called Black Cobra in the market. Manu Manik was a famous bear i.e. short seller who used to make money when the market fell. Rakesh ji also joined Manu Manik's group for some time. But in 1991, when Harshad Mehta started his bull run, he took the market to such a height that the bear cartel suffered huge losses.
Rakesh ji and Damani ji also had to suffer huge losses at that time. But as soon as Harshad Mehta's scam came to light in the year 1992. The entire market collapsed like a house of cards. While the world was crying, Rakesh ji took advantage of this fall and did a lot of short selling. At that time he earned around Rs 30 to 35 crores.
But from here his thinking changed. He understood that short selling is a short-term game. The real future of India lies in long term investing. After the turmoil of the 1992 Harshad Mehta scam and Manu Manik's separation from the beer cartel, Rakesh ji decided to create a new identity for himself. He founded his own asset management company called Rare Enterprises.
Rare Enterprises There was a very sweet and personal secret behind this name. The word Rare was actually named after the names of Rakesh ji and his wife Rekha ji. R meant Rekha and RA meant Rakesh. This company was not just a paper firm but it was the nerve centre of Rakesh ji's empire. From where he decided the fate of Indian companies and his own fate.
This was the door from where Rakesh ji left behind the image of a short term trader and took steps towards becoming a mature long term investor. In 1994, American giant Morgan Stanley launched India's first foreign mutual fund. People felt that now only foreign companies would run our market. But then the recession hit and Morgan Stanley started withdrawing its money from India.
This was the moment when Rakesh ji made the world acknowledge his talent. He had said with great pride that what do foreigners know, India is a sleeping lion which has now awakened. When everyone was selling out of fear, Rakesh ji bought heavily and proved that an Indian investor has the most trust in his country.
Now let's talk about that phone call deal which we mentioned in the beginning, that ₹32 deal of Titan in the year 2002. At that time it seemed like a suicide mission because Titan Company was running in losses at that time. Actually, a big investor like Morgan Stanley wanted to distance itself from Titan.
He felt that the company's jewellery business i.e. Tanishq would never be able to make profits. The watch business had also slowed down and Morgan Stanley was afraid that all his money might be lost. That is why they wanted to sell their entire holding and run away from the market. But Rakesh ji did not just look at the charts.
He met Titan MD Bhaskar Bhatt ji and understood the real strength of the company. He recognised the trust value of the Tata brand and the growing interest of India's middle class. He was fully confident that Tanishq, which is in loss today, will become India's biggest jewellery chain tomorrow. Rakesh ji bought 5 lakh shares of Titan and did not stop even after that.
He continued buying and at one point, he owned 6 crore shares of Titan. Now here he solves the puzzle which confuses many people. People say they bought Titan for ₹3 when in reality their purchase was for ₹32 to ₹35. Actually, when the share split happened in the year 2011, his one share got divided into 10 parts, due to which his purchase of ₹30 became only ₹3 on paper.
This is the real magic of compounding. He kept those lions hidden in his safe for 20 years. Today his family owns more than 5% shares of Titan. Whose value is in thousands of crores of rupees. Rakesh ji often used to say that money in the market is made not with the mind but with the heart and liver.
The real player in the market is the one who sticks to his research even in the biggest storm. But friends, as it is said, every coin has two sides. Rakesh ji was not a God that everything would turn into gold as soon as he touched it. He too has suffered great losses in life. In the year 2019, he suffered huge losses ranging from ₹178 crore to ₹221 crore in DHFL.
When that company got caught in scam and debt crisis. Not only this, Bollywood's Dabangg Salman Khan's company Mandana Retail, which we know today as Being Human. In that too, Rakesh ji had to suffer huge losses. Some of his other investments like DB Realty and several smaller companies also disappointed him.
But his speciality was that he immediately accepted his mistake and moved ahead after learning from it. Despite these losses, Rakesh ji's portfolio was always in the news. They weren't relying solely on the Titan. He kept a close eye on every sector of the market. He had made large investments in dozens of strong companies like Chrysler, Lupin, PZ Industries and Volts.
His strategy was very clear. To find such companies whose value may be low in the eyes of the market today, but whose future is directly linked to the progress of India. For example, he invested in Lupen at a time when India 's pharma sector was making its mark globally. Rakesh ji often used to give an example in his outspoken language.
If a girl is beautiful then people seeking marriage proposal will come automatically. That means if the company's business and management are strong then if not today then tomorrow the market will recognize its true value. They did n't just buy shares. They used to buy a part of India's growth story.
The problems were not limited to the ghats only. In the year 2021, Rakesh ji's bright career was also overshadowed by a controversial allegation. He was accused of insider trading in the Aptech Cities case. SEBI alleged that Rakesh ji and his close associates traded on the basis of information that was not available to the general public.
But instead of fighting a long legal battle, Rakesh ji settled with SEBI for around ₹37 crores. He paid this amount to end the legal process without admitting his crime. At that time this was a topic of discussion in the entire market. But despite this, he always stayed away from big scams and maintained his identity as a long term investor.
Despite his deteriorating health and being on dialysis in his last days, Rakesh ji's courage did not diminish. In the year 2021, he took the last and most emotional risk of his life by starting Akasa Air. Some people laughed, some joked that even big people lose their money in airlines. But Rakesh fearlessly declared, "I want even the common man in India to be able to fulfill his dream of affordable air travel." Look at the fate.
On August 7, 2022, just a week before his death, Akasa Air's first flight took off. And on August 14, 2022, Dalal Street's stock market fell silent forever. He taught us to be smarter than a bull. He proved that if you believe in yourself and your country, even ₹5,000 can become ₹45,000 crore. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is gone.
But in every falling market, when someone loses courage, his voice echoes: "The market is supreme." If you enjoyed this inspiring journey of The Big Bull, please like this video. Do n't forget to subscribe to our channel to receive such unheard and true stories related to finance and the stock market.
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