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Well, the world always watches, examines and also really looks up to wisdom from Bshar Hathway annual event. But Ramdev Agraal treats it like in his annual pilgrim pilgrimage. Like they say in Hindi, th yatra and he just come back from his titra. And why do you go for titra? Well to understand more about spirituality, Ramdev Ges for his to understand more about life and markets.
So am I right that this was your threeatra? How many times you've won for the threeatra? At least 25 times. How old are you sir? I know Buffett is 92 but uh so I've been going from 95 onwards. Wow. Uh so it's been I mean actually initially it was not streamed. They started streaming it just 3 four years back or 5 years back.
Till then it was very relevant to go there and listen to him firsthand and wait don't wait for the what do you call uh some reporters to report it. Uh but uh but now we have the network we have a lot of people coming in and listening from him and getting the energy in the hall. I think these are two different things compared to Jazzar streaming.
uh every Burkshshire Hathway AGM has a lot of hint, lot of repetition, lot of wisdom and lot of takeaways. So let's understand what did you pick up as what could be called as new, what could you what did you pick up which is old but yet wisdom. Yeah. So uh I don't know how to structure it but uh see the the things which I learned one is that running a trillion dollar balance sheet or $640 billion balance sheet and a 6 $1.2 trillion company is a different ballgame than uh you know what he started with in 1965 when he was running maybe $100 million balance sheet.
So uh I think uh now the responses are different. He's got $350 billion of cash in hand which is 50% of the balance sheet and uh the new guy comes in. So uh I mean he has he has built this company in the whole life and today he has handed over as a CEO. He said buck stops now with uh Greg and he has nothing to do with this and he'll be there only as an advisory capacity if he needs to ask me anything otherwise the full thing it's a it's a it's a quite a quite a lesson how transition is being handled of this size of the company and uh he has also nominated the uh his son Howard Buffett as uh if tomorrow he pops out then who is going to the chairman even that name is there so I think uh in Burkshai's shareholders point of view the uncertainty which was there about the uh next uh uh longevity of the management I think that has been fully fully taken care of.
So that is one thing that how do you handle a big transition uh and uh well in time. Uh so that is that is being done and I think for a lot of Indian companies which are uh of that genre which started in 80s and '90s and now the the owners are uh owners are aging up and they have to hand over to the next generation and how to do it.
I think this is a good lesson for all of them. Second uh I think uh the nature of the investment will change because uh his competencies were very different. Buffett's own competency is more in investing and people bringing the people together and running lot of company. If you see the history of 60 years, they've given a book of 60 years of buffet, 60 years of bshshire.
That's one book uh which was uh distributed or sold uh you know one of the thing is that uh over a period of time they have been continuously acquiring companies and integrating with Bshshire. So now uh and then he has also built I think the biggest money was made by uh his investment in Apple uh upwards of 150 200 billion.
So I think uh his investing prowess probably won't be there with Greg and Ajit. So with a new dispension the way to create wealth will be very different and it'll be most likely hard assets will be bought like uh uh the energy distribution and all. So I think Greg is Greg Greg's strength is in the hard assets and my sense is that even Buffett was alluding to the fact that there's lot of opportunity for building up infrastructure projects in US and probably there's a lot of if you see the black rocks uh uh annual report even there they're talking about $68 trillion of uh uh infrastructure possibilities in the years to come.
So I think my sense is that uh the balance sheet will look different uh going forward and uh uh they will create value by investing effectively uh in hard assets rather than uh new stock ideas. I I would be surprised if they're able to take a bet of$100 $200 billion into a listed company or uh even unlisted but by way of a stock but Rand G you would you would perhaps appreciate the spirit of my next question that the historical cash Bureway is sitting on they are not finding opportunity or they are bearish or they expect markets to fall because when the most successful long-term investing firm in the world is sitting on cash levels which are higher than what they've ever sit on both in percentage number and in absolute number.
It makes you wonder that is Buffett or Bokshshire Hatway telling you that the markets will fall. I I I was thinking he used to always say don't don't bother too much about what I say do what I do. So going by that thing he's clearly taking a cash call in the market and he thinks that uh market is at a high and probably he was also aware of what could mean to be under uh Trump presidency the kind of uh because Trump has already talked about the tariff uh tariff thing he will take up as he gets elected.
So probably to just to preempt that he he might have probably decided to sit on cash. So uh but he didn't seem to be bearish at least in the AGM. He seemed to be pretty all right and uh they are looking for ideas and uh investing but my sense is they're starting with $350 billion of cash and annual operating profit now is $40 billion plus.
So we are looking at about more than5 to $600 billion in next 5 years of investing and uh that can be done only if you go for art assets or assets which is the businesses which are capital intensive rather than uh intellectually intangible intensive. So uh I I would think that they will they'll bet big on some uh cross-country infrastructures in roads or ports or uh uh this electricity transmission those kind of things are so that is a very different character of a company than what we have known so far.
Ramde G hypothetically if you had to invest that $350 billion which Burkshshire Hathway is sitting on you know their investment philosophy you know what they look at you know that they understand their you know competence which is COC circle of competence which is that one Indian company where if you have $350 billion to invest in you would invest in I would buy the Indian market only.
No no no no generic Indian markets are not cheap. Indian markets are not cheap. There is no fear in the Indian market. So theory uh see Nikon the issue is that what is your investment style? If they're looking for very stable large franchises looking at their size of the money uh then uh but my style is to look more for the growth you know because it's a inflationary economy and I would go for growth like I would bet big on say like they missed on Amazon but now Amazon of India is coming up so I would not like to miss on that opportunity you know quick commerce and all which is building up very rapidly and very large like you can put 510 billion dollars into this particular kind of companies.
So that's where I would uh look at it very seriously. Uh there was a there was a specific mention on AI this time. There was no mention on gold and there was no mention on Bitcoin. I wonder why Warren Buffett did not speak about gold when everybody's talking about gold. Uh actually the question didn't come up.
Uh even the AI thing came up because somebody asked very specifically about the insurance AI impact of AI on insurance and uh there uh then Ajit and all they spoke about uh the impact of AI which can have on the insurance uh and uh AI and the new technology in EV and all. So if the if the uh if the accident rates go down then obviously the uh auto insurance policies required will be of lower value and hence they said the whole business structure will change eventually and instead of becoming consumer oriented which is you buy separate policies uh separate policy being sold to the consumers they will sell policies to the product guys who are going to take all the responsibilities of the accidents and whatever happens.
uh one uh other question is that he owns about what 5% of the total US equities now and he has so much of cash that he can buy S&P 50% of S&P 500 companies uh no 5% of US equity no no no treasury treasury huh treasury yeah treasury I be a part not equities uh if you're putting money in US treasury at a time when you know that there is fear of inflation you know Dollar debasing is starting.
Uh US may lose its status of being the superpower. Tariffs will backfire. Is it a good idea to perhaps spark money into US treasury because central banks are not trusting US treasury? No, but he is a he's American citizen. The company is American. So the uh it is better than cash. I mean US treasur is very liquid and uh you are getting 4.7 4.8%.
So I think this is obvious choice instead of sitting in cash if you're sitting on treasury uh I think uh and uh the only thing is that can the can the interest rate go to instead of 4 and a half% it goes to 8 9% then you are stuck very badly okay G of all the 25 BARway meetings you've attended tell us your most memorable one I think uh one of course the earlier ones were the most like you were watch you were so excited about reaching there and getting to the seat and whatever he utters single word and our own knowledge and understanding was so low at that point of time.
Today uh over 25 30 years of repetition I mean literally if any question is asked I know uh bulk of the question one question which came up yesterday which was different day before was that uh one small child he asked u uh about the patience. I mean one of the thing he learned is that you have lot of patience.
So he actually contradicted. He said yes we have a lot of patience but when it requires to be impatient when the deals come we become the most impatient guy to execute the deal. So uh so despite the fact that they are known for being very patient they can be pretty aggressive when the deals come. So that's what uh uh I was uh one thing which was coming up uh in the in the Q&A that question was quite stark.
Okay. And I've been told that every time you go there, you make sure that you eat that ice cream and you get candy back for your children, right? Is it true? No queen. Yeah. So Dairy Queen, you know that you get for a dollar. So uh that uh I mean he owns Dairy Queen. I think very large portion of Dairy Queen is owned by him.
So yes, uh I mean every every time you get an opportunity to eat there. But uh I think this time uh this time the I think the lot of stars in the in the audience uh apart from usual ones like Tim Cooks and uh Bill Gates I think people people have cited a lot of people I think it was known it was it I I didn't know that it is going to be last one but generally it was known to the people at large that this could be the last AGM of Buffett and that's why I think audience were also So the behind him the uh stadium if you see behind him used to be empty but this time the stadium was pretty packed right till top.
So clearly I'm sure the attendance must have been record at this point of time. Okay Ramdev G before we wrap markets it's quite extraordinary right I mean it appeared to everybody that after Trump the world would be in a shaky place but not only US mark Indian markets have come back US markets have also retraced the post tariff you know post tariff losses why have we seen such a solid comeback in equities as an asset class not only in India but globally also I think the sell off was out of fear so as the fear picked out on 2nd of April when the so-called liberation day I think markets also made bottom at that point of time and after that as the atrances are coming where uh even Chinese stance is going to be a little more accommodative uh Trump is also becoming more accommodative and so I think uh they're realizing that world cannot work the way uh he was thinking so now the practical aspect is coming out if you see the that milk conference which is on from yesterday uh the all the biggies are making presentations one of the thing I think Robin he he spoke yesterday and he said that uh uh finally the tariffs could settle for China at about 50 to 60% and for countries like India it will be more like around 15 to 20%.
So I think the uh uh the mood is uh mood is building up and people are seeing some hope that normal uh normal trade uh the the the the normal trade will not be disrupted and uh and there will be a way for the economy to work in a very smooth way. So one of the thing I gathered while while I was there in US in last 8 10 days is that the diversification of supply chain is almost given irrespective of what is the gap in the tariffs.
If the gap is there, I think it'll happen faster. But otherwise also I think the US importers would love to build some base in India and that looks to be completely uh happening for sure and I think as the quarterly results of manufacturing companies come maybe not June by September I think we start getting sense of which way the wind is blowing.
to you know wrap it up with one final question they say that India is going to be disproportionate beneficiary of what's happening in the world tariffs are going to be much lower than the world the imports from u China will get exports from China will get affected energy and crude prices have come down it and pharma they've not got affected do you think this entire tariff whichever way it would swing actually India would come right at the top of the heap in terms of a winner It all depends on uh response of bureaucracy and more importantly the entrepreneurs you know because uh the entrepreneurs should be able to seize this particular opportunity to put up the extra capacity and uh and negotiate well with the buyers and uh make things happen acrew the earnings to the current base of the earnings.
So that is clearly there but it looks that uh it's a godsend opportunity. It looks like a Y2K moment for manufacturing. In 95 for Y2K people started coming here and today we have 250 300 billion dollar uh software powerhouse in the world. So uh can can this be a can can this be an opportunity for us to build a manufacturing powerhouse uh in the decades ahead?
So that look it's a decable opportunity and it all depends on how the companies play out and how the government helps uh companies uh take this opportunity really appreciate your time thank you so very much for joining us and I would say that long live Warren Buffett why just this AGM many more AGMs to come because that's where the magic happen that's where the learning happens that's where the interaction happens and that's where like Ramdev G said the reality so Ramde G let's say it again long Warren Buffett. Many more EGMs. Long live Buffett. Thank you very much. Let's take a break.
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