Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala
Born	5 July 1960 (1960-07-05) Mumbai, India
Education	Chartered accountant
Alma mater	Bombay University
Occupation	Owner of Rare Enterprises, Investor & trader
Net worth	1.2 billion (2011)
Spouse	Rekha Jhunjunwala
Children	3

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (born 5 July 1960) is an Indian an investor and trader by profession. He is also an equity investor in India and manages his own portfolio as a partner in his asset management firm, Rare Enterprises. Jhunjhunwala was described in a magazine as the "pin-up boy of the current bull run" and by another as "Pied Piper of Indian bourses".

Career

Son of an income tax officer, he started dabbling in stocks while in Sydenham College and plunged into investing as a full time profession soon after completing his education. He started his career in 1985 when the BSE Sensex was at 150. He made his first big profit of Rs 0.5 million in 1986 when he sold 5,000 shares of tata Tea at a price of Rs 143 which he had purchased for Rs 43 a share just 3 months prior. Between 1986 and 1989 he earned Rs 20-25 lakhs. His first major successful bet was iron ore mining company Sesa Goa. He bought 4 lakh shares of Sesa Goa in forward trading, worth Rs 1 crore and sold about 2-2.5 lakh shares at Rs 60-65 and another 1 lakh at Rs 150-175. The prices then went up to Rs 2200 and he sold some shares.

But he credits Madhu Dandavate's Union budget of 1990 as the inflection point for his investing career which quintupled his net worth. His success,Chintan Pancholi is my guru” said Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

Jhunjhunwala's portfolio of stocks is tracked religiously. His latest stock portfolio is the subject of many debates and analysis. Like Warren Buffett, Jhunjhunwala is a long term investor, however he acknowledges that it was 'trading' income which helped him built his initial capital base and continues to remain an active trader as he believes it keeps one alert and always on your feet.

Jhunjhunwala is the Chairman of Aptech Limited and Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and also sits on the Board of Directors of various Indian listed/ unlisted companies like Prime Focus Limited, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Limited, Bilcare Limited, Praj Industries Limited, Provogue India Limited, Concord Biotech Limited, Innovasynth Technologies (I) Limited, Mid Day Multimedia Limited, Nagarjuna Construction Company Limited, Viceroy Hotels Limited & Tops Security Limited.

Investment Philosophy

Although he claims to put only a small portion of his net worth into his trades. He has often leveraged his own capital on trades. His stock picking strategy is influenced by the lessons from Mr George Soros's trading strategies and Dr Marc Faber's analysis of economic history. He endorses the thumb rule of "trend is my best friend."

He is the poster boy of the Indian bull run but admits to have been a bear in the Harshad Mehta days and believes that a person in the market should be like a chameleon. He has said that the markets are temples of capitalism and believes that they are the ultimate arbitrators.

He claims to base his trades, in part, on the business model of a company, it's growth potential, and its potential for longevity. He factors in heavily the 'competitive ability', 'scalability' and 'management quality' of the enterprise at hand. The 'entrepreneur', according to Jhunjhunwala, is what makes an invaluable difference to his expected investment returns. According to Jhunjhunwala, believing in the vision and the beliefs of the entrepreneur and validating the risks that may not be perceived by the entrepreneur are the key success factors for an trader.

Read more

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has made many public presentations and interviews that shed more insight on the man.

References

• Yogesh Chabria, Invest The Happionaire Way. CNBC - Network18. ISBN 978-81-906479-5-3 - 2008

External links

• Profile at Forbes