1. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is the king of Indian stock market. His success has inspired millions of Indians to participate in the Indian stock market. His story is now a case study in almost every business school. He is one of the richest men around with Forbes ranking him 61^st in the list of richest people in India in 2018. He is also called Warren Buffet of India.

Rakesh was born into a middle class family who got inspired from his father who was an income tax officer.  His father was interested in stock too. This made him inspired and wanted to go with the stock market. He completed his Chartered Accounting and turned to stock market.

He was not allowed to ask money either from his father or his friends. This was a challenge to him. All he had was 5000rs in his account. He got his first lucky break through his brother who introduced Rakesh to clients who were willing to loan him money. After getting the money he actively started looking for trading opportunities in the market. He made his first big profit in Tata tea, a stock that he bought for 43rs and raised up to 143rs in a matter of 3 months.

The turning point in his journey took place in 1989. There was a lot of pessimism in the stock market regarding the budget which was going to be presented by VP Singh’s government. The market had significantly corrupted before the budget as they thought that it would not be a business friendly budget.  Jhunjhunwala had a strong belief that VP Singh having a business background will produce a business friendly budget. He bought aggressively and his instincts turned out to be right. In the next few months Jhunjunwala’s net worth went up to 20 times.

Later he started his own investment company called Rare enterprises. From then on he took a break on trading and gradually shifted to investing. Over the years, he made some really profitable bets such as Titan, Lupin, Crisil, Praj Industries, which catapulted his wealth to about 20,000 crores.

Success secret of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is:

• look for companies with a competitive edge
• For becoming a successful investor you don’t have to be right all the time
• Trading vs. Investing
• Go big on your conviction
• Have a lot of patience
• Developed a passion for the stock market.
• Life is not about regrets, it’s about learning.

2. Radhakishan Damani

R K Damani is the 12^th richest person of India. Famously known as Mr. White and White. He is a stock market investor, stock broker, trader and the founder and promoter of DMart. Radhakishan Damani is guru and mentor of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. He began his career as a trader in ball bearing. He had no intention to enter the stock market. After his father’s death he was forced to close down that business and had to join his brother in the stock broking business. It was inherited from their father. He had no idea about the stock market, so he began as a speculator. Within no time, taking inspiration from the legendary value investor Chandrakant Sampat he started playing for the long term.

His strategy was simple. His philosophy was long term. He would see that the product has a potential far in the future.  Some of his investments include GE Capital, VST Industries Ltd., Samtel Ltd., Somany ceramic, Jay Shree Tea, and many more. After reaching such a great height in 2001, suddenly he quit the stock market and decided to enter the retail industry and built DMart.

Success secret of Radhakishna Damani is:

• Keep an eye on the long term.
• Small is big.
• Value your people.
• Buy low, sell cheap.
• Go local.
• Go slow.
• No frills.
• Ignore the herd.
• Avoid credit.
• Let your work speak.

3. Ramesh Damani

Ramesh Damani hailed from a well to do family. His father worked in the stock market for more than 20 years. Senior Damani was able to achieve a good income for his family.

Ramesh Damani never wanted to get involved in the stock market but on the other side his father had a different idea.

His father tried so hard but failed to convince his son to invest in the stock market. At last he decided to take the risk to bring him back.

It was a bet to his father which made Ramesh Damani enter the stock market. He gave a certain amount of money to his son and asked him to double it by investing in the stock market. But within 6 months he lost the huge money which raised an ego in him.

How could an MBA graduate from a prestigious college in the USA lose money that too in a bull market?

He became a member of the Bombay Stock Exchange. But what really excited him was investing in successful businesses for a long term. Damani’s father proved to be successful in the market. “He always created income for the family, but never wealth,” says Damani.

His first big step was in 1993, when Infosys went public. Partially working as a coder in the US, he knew Infosys would benefit from a huge labor arbitrage. Rs 10 lakh was invested by him in both Infosys and CMC. His investment had grown hundredfold by 1999.

Success secret of Ramesh Damani is:

• Circle of Competence
• Think differently
• Change in trend.

4. Raamdeo Agarwal

Hailing from a farming background, he shares that the only investment strategy his father knew was saving and investing in his kids. He completed Chartered Accountancy.

He met his closest associate and business partner Motilal Oswal. Raamdeo Agarwal and Oswal from Mumbai. They had one common interest which was the Stock Market. They decided to become sub-brokers in the BSE In 1987. By 1990 he managed to become a stockbroker and also started investing for himself in the stock market. This helped him to develop a portfolio of over Rs 10 lac.

The next few years, it was said that he was lucky to have remained invested in the stock market when the Harshad Mehta bull run arrived in 1992. His 10 lakh investment has now become 30 crores. When the bull run was over reports of the Harshad Mehta scam broke out. This investment value dropped from 30 crores to 10 crores.

This was the time where he thought twice his approach to the markets. He went to the US to attend the shareholders meeting of Berkshire Hathaway and meet his idol Warren Buffet in 1994. After meeting him, the first thing he stressed on was getting the most by reading all the letters written by Warren Buffet to Berkshire Hathaway.

After that his investment strategy was different. Till then his 10 crore portfolio comprised 225 stocks. Agarwal sold most of them and invested in only 15 stocks. This was because he understood that it was the quality and not the quantity that mattered. His portfolio raised its value to 100 crores by the year 2000. He was listed in 2018 Forbes him as a billionaire.

Some of his notable investments are Hero Honda, Infosys, Eicher Motors.

Success secret of Raamdeo Agarwal is:

• Quality
• Growth
• Longevity
• Price

5. Vijay Kedia

Vijay Kedia began investing at the age of 14. He felt lucky to be born in a family with a stock market background. According to him, the stock market is a high risk, high gain business. He started his journey as a trader. Trading requires strict discipline and total concentration. Kedia was influenced by his friend SP Modi who had identified many multibaggers. He started investing in stocks recommended by Modi and eventually it turned into his passion.

His first big hit as investment was Punjab Tractors. He bought that at Rs 50 which later multiplied 10 times in 3 years. Later in 1990, with the help of his friend Sameer Kedia he came to Mumbai with Rs1 Lakh to try his luck in BSE ring. His first 2 years in Mumbai were hard. Finally in 1992-93, he got lucky to identify ACC at Rs 300 which he sold at Rs3000 within a year. He bought his first house in Mumbai which encouraged him.

He is famous for buying mid-size companies. He gives extreme priority to management and business growth. Later he befriended Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. Kedia wanted to buy huge stakes in companies like Rakesh but lacked confidence.

According to him investing in 200 companies is not a pleasure. Neither should invest everything in one company. He advises to have a 10-15 stocks portfolio of about 5 years as this is a time every small company takes to become a medium company.

Success secrets:

• He never has any exit plans but decides to exit when he thinks the valuation is unrealistic or he finds some other better investments.
• According to him dividend is not the only criteria to invest. Growth and scalability is the topmost criteria.
• He uses a bottom up approach which means he focuses more on the company rather than the industry.