A rags-to-riches story of a man known for his humility and far-sightedness is something that amazes us all. Mr Radhakishan Damani, or famously known as Mr White and White, is the 4th richest person in India with a wealth of $20 Billion. Such is his modesty that he doesn’t appear for any media coverages as he prefers to live a simple and meek life.
A visionary, investor, trader, entrepreneur, and businessman at heart, Mr Damani started off with a small ball-bearing shop as his primary business. After the untimely death of his father, he entered into the complexities of the stock markets and became a stockbroker in his family business. It took little time for him to realise that he could earn real money only if he holds his owned stakes in the markets, and therefore, he started off with trading in different stocks. He managed to earn significant profits and was at par with Mr Harshad Mehta, who was running the markets during the 1980s-90s. Mr Damani was speculative of the bull run caused by Mr Mehta and he adopted a counter approach by short-selling the shares which ultimately led to a huge rise in his wealth upon the revelation of the Harshad Mehta scam. Later on, he changed his focus to value investing and started picking up extremely cheap shares in which he saw potential. Value investing is an art, and Mr Damani is a Picasso of this form. Some of the stocks that contributed to his vast fortune include HDFC Bank, VST Industries, Sundaram Finance, India Cement and Blue Dart. (He bought shares of VST Industries at Rs. 85 and it currently trades at Rs. 3,400. So, you can imagine the returns)
It is time to explore the businessman inside Mr Damani. Back in 2000, he was deeply interested in the consumer retail business and decided to give a shot in the same. After being inspired by the concept of Walmart in the United States, he bought loads of properties in suburban Mumbai and opened up his supermarket chain D-Mart to mark his entry into the business world. D-Mart adopted several strategies that were unique to the Indian retail market including owning its own stores and focusing just on its core food and grocery business. These are the factors responsible for the survival and rise of D-Mart in this ever-evolving consumer retail business. Today, D-Mart owns 170+ stores all across India with a whopping revenue of over 19,000 crores.
People term ‘Marwari’s’ as the individuals who do smart business and Mr Radhakishan Damani has certainly lived up to the expectations. The journey from D-street to D-mart has been amazing and it has created a huge name for Mr Damani in the financial and business world. When investors like Mr Rakesh Jhunjhunwala look up to him for some stock market tips, we get a hint of what he has achieved over the years. In simple terms, he can be called the Rahul Dravid of the Business world as he knows what to do at the right moment and keeps his calm to achieve extraordinary results.
