Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (1960-2022): An Investors’ Role Model With Extraordinary Risk-Taking Capacity

Opting for the stock market as a full-time career is a difficult choice for any individual and it was especially extremely difficult some 30-40 years ago. The market was also caught with its biggest scam in 1990s. But, such was the person Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who after becoming a chartered accountant chose to take the Dalal Street for his financial path.

Born on July 5, 1960, in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, the legendary investor got graduated from Sydenham College in Mumbai and then enrolled at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (CA). He gained interest in share investment after hearing his father discuss the stock market with his friends. “My father gave me my morals, my thoughts, my guts, encouragement, curiosity,” he had said.

Jhunjhunwala made his first big profit of Rs 5 lakh in 1986 when the Sensex was at 150 points. He had invested in 5,000 shares of Tata Tea at Rs 43 and within 3 months, it jumped to Rs 143. Also called an investor with the Midas touch, he was able to make almost Rs 20-25 lakh from the stock market in the next three years.

Now referred to as the ‘Big Bull of India’ and the ‘King of Bull Market’, Jhunjhunwala also invested in a number of multi-bagger shares. For instance, during 2002-03, he bought Titan’s shares at an average price of Rs 3, which is currently trading at Rs 2,471.95 apiece on the BSE. His biggest investment till date has been in this Tata company, which was worth over Rs 7,000 crore.

He became a man in the country whom investors followed and got bullish where he got bullish. Now, according to Forbes, his net worth stood at $4.6 billion or about Rs 34,000 crore. As of 2021, the worth of his holdings was Rs 19,277 crore, as per Trendlyne.

Jhunjhunwala has always been innovative and never scared of taking risks. Along with having his successful career in the stock market, Jhunjhunwala also got into the airline business, with his ultra-low-cost airline Akasa Air.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has also virtually flagged off the airline’s first commercial flight, which departed from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. After this, Jhunjhunwala said, “People say that India has a very very bad bureaucracy but the cooperation that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has given us, it is unbelievable.”

After the first risky choice of stock market, entering the aviation sector was his another such choice, given the turbulence in the sector due to COVID-19 and then rising crude oil prices. Jhunjhunwala always believed in his instincts.

The veteran stock market investor Jhunjhunwala died on Sunday morning. He was 62 and was suffering from kidney ailments. According to sources, he was undergoing dialysis on a regular basis as both his kidneys had failed. He was brought to the Candy Breach Hospital at 6:45 AM and was declared dead.

Read the Latest News and Breaking News here