Rakesh Jhunjhunwala: 'The Big Bull' who started with Rs 5,000 and rose to Rs 40,000 crores

Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala passed away on Sunday morning reportedly due to kidney-related ailments. The 62-year-old business magnate had a net worth of $5.5 billion. He is survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter. 

"Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was indomitable. Full of life, witty and insightful, he leaves behind an indelible contribution to the financial world. He was also very passionate about India’s progress. His passing away is saddening," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, condoling his demise.

The 'Big Bull of Dalal Street' was known in the bullish market for his uncommonly wise intellect. Take a look at Jhunjhunwala's historic journey in the Indian stock market and how he successfully made over Rs 40,000 crores from just Rs 5,000.

Journey from Rs 5,000 to Rs 40,000 crores

Jhunjhunwala, also known as the ‘big bull’ or ‘India's Warren Buffett’ was born on 5th July 1960 in Mumbai. His fascination with the stock market stemmed from his father, who was an Income tax officer.

After graduation, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala dove into the stock market world in 1985 with just Rs 5,000. At that time, Sensex was reportedly at just 150 points. Soon, he reportedly got Rs 2.5 lakhs from one of his brother’s clients by promising to give higher returns compared to the fixed deposits.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s first big profit was in 1986 when he made Rs 0.5 million. He bought 5,000 shares of Tata Tea at Rs 43 and within 3 months it was trading at Rs 143. He then made over 3 times the profit by selling the stocks of Tata tea, as per reports.

In the next few years, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala made a number of good profits from stocks. Between 1986-89, he had already reportedly earned Rs 20-25 lakhs. His next big investment was Sesa Goa, now known as Vedanta. He initially bought its stocks at Rs 28 and then increased them to Rs 35. Soon, the stock rallied to Rs 65.

Establishing 'Rare Enterprises'

In 2003, Jhunjhunwala and his wife Rekha established their own stock trading firm - Rare Enterprises. Located in Mumbai, Rare Enterprises invests in sectors such as biotechnology, digital entertainment, education, healthcare, and hospitality.

In 2002-03, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala bought ‘Titan Company Limited’ at an average price of Rs 3, which is trading at Rs 2,140 today. He holds over 4.4 crore shares of Titan company and had an ‘overall’ holding of 5.1% in the company by March 2022.

Jhunjhunwala invested in Praj Industries in 2004 when the index was a mere 5,500. It soon nearly doubled and he sold some shares at a ~250x appreciation.

In 2006, he invested in LUPIN at an average purchase price was Rs 150. Today, the company is trading at Rs 635. A few other multi-baggers in Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s portfolio include CRISIL, PRAJ IND, Aurobindo Pharma, NCC, etc.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala made headlines in 2021 for making 50 crores in just 8 days. The King of Bull Market’s top 5 equity holding includes - Titan Company Ltd, Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Ltd, Tata Motors Ltd,  Escorts Ltd, and CRISIL Ltd. 

Latest Stock Portfolio of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

Here are some of the latest stocks with the most weightage in Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s Portfolio until March 2022:

In addition to being an active stock market investor, Jhunjhunwala was the chairman of Aptech Limited and Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. He was also on the board of directors of Prime Focus Ltd, Geojit Financial Services, Bilcare Ltd, Praj Industries Ltd, Provogue India Ltd, Concord Biotech Ltd, Innovasynth Technologies Ltd, Mid Day Multimedia Ltd, Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd, Viceroy Hotels Ltd, and Tops Security Ltd.

He recently co-founded Indian airline Akasa Air which took its first flight from Mumbai to Ahmedabad on August 7. Akasa Air currently has 2 aircraft, with an additional order for 70 more aircraft, and flies to 3 cities as of August 9, 2022.