If you have ever heard of the DMart, well here’s a detailed blog about its billionaire founder, Radhakrishan Damani. But apart from this role, he is also a billionaire investor who manages his portfolio through his Investment firm, Bright Star Investments Limited.
Raised in a Marwari Maheshwari family in a single room apartment in Mumbai, RK Damani studied Commerce at the University of Mumbai.
An interesting fact about Damani: Damani does not consider himself high educated as he dropped out after one year of studying B.Com.
Before entering the stock market, he owned and managed his “ball-bearing business”.
However, a life-changing event happened in his life where he lost his father who worked on Dalal Street. This led Damani to leave his ball-bearing business and enter the market as a stock market broker and investor.
Radhakrishan Damani Net Worth is $24.6 billion which lands the founder of Avneue Supermarts and DMart on the 63rd richest man in the world position.
The 1990s: After joining the market with his father’s legacy, he started making profits by short-selling stocks at the age of 32 years. He soon realised that He needed to trade in the market to earn profits. He became a flexible trader who believed in earning through different market swings
At the same time, these stocks were inflated by Harshad Mehta, a big name in the industry at that point before he was exposed for his illegible means of doing business.
1992: Harshad Mehta’s Scam became public and Damani benefitted with a major rise in his income through the short-selling profits, which were not common during the time.
1995: Damani was reportedly the largest individual shareholder of HDFC Bank after it went public.
1999: With a franchise of Apna Bazaar which was the cooperative department store, Radhakrishan Damani was in Nerul, but he was still "unconvinced" by its business model.
2000: Shockingly, a year later, he quit the stock market set the foundation stone of the hypermarket chain, DMart.
2002: 2 years after he quit his previous job, he decided to first store in Powai in 2002
2017: The DMart chain had already grown to 25 stores and the company grew rapidly and went public with a bumper hit IPO under the name of the parent company, Avenue Supermarts.
Avenue supermart offer price was Rs 299 and it got listed at the oversubscription of Rs 604. Currently, that share price as of 31st December 2021 is 4,630.
2020: He was recognised as the fourth richest Indian with a net worth of $16.5 billion and ranked #117 on the global list of billionaires.
2021: On 18th August 2021, the businessman was ranked #98 richest person in the world by Bloomberg Billionaire Index. Today, as of September 2021, there are 246 DMart stores across India.
DMart is present in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, National Capital Region, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Daman and Diu, and Punjab and more.
Unlike any stockbroker and investor image that you have seen in web series or documentaries, RK Damani is a very private man who rarely gives interviews to the media. He is married and has three children and is known as “Mr White and White” because you would most likely spot him in a white shirt and white trousers.
From short-selling to earn profits during Harshad Mehta Scam to becoming one of the best investors in the country who has taught many the lessons of investing, Damani covered the long journey. He ventured into understanding the potential of long-term investing and gained a lot of money.
He holds several stocks, some of those best-performing stocks include VST Industries, Indian Cement, Blue Dart, etc. While his portfolio is inclusive of companies from several industries.
He invested in VST industries at an average of Rs 85 which is currently trading at 3110 as of 31st Dec 2021. In May 2020, Damani also picked up a 15% stake in India Cements taking his investment in India Cements to 19.89%.
Damani publicly holds 6 stocks in his investment portfolio while his stock portfolio is estimated at approximately Rs 1,02,077cr or Approximately US$13 Billion in 2021.
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