As Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's net worth reaches Rs 10,000 cr-mark, here's a look at his journey so far

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, the name synonymous with stock market investment, is a well-known personality whose impeccable art of spotting rare jewels on the bourses and backing it to the hilt has earned him lots of accolades in the past. Continuing with his dream run on the bourses, Jhunjhunwala and his family’s net worth in listed entities edged past Rs 10,000 crore-mark earlier this week as several stocks from his portfolio such as Aptech, Dewan Housing Finance Corp, Edelweiss Financial Services, Titan, Escorts and Federal Bank clocked spectacular gains on the bourses. According to a report in Business Standard, Jhunjhunwala and his family’s combined net worth stood at Rs 10,700 crore on 1 March, 2017. Their net worth as on 31 December, 2016, was at Rs 9,156 crore before racing ahead in the next few months on the back of stupendous rally. Some of the stocks from his portfolio like Titan, Escorts, Rallis India, Federal Bank, Delta Corp, DHFL, Aptech and Edelweiss Finance etc. among others gave returns ranging over 20-40 percent over the past one year period. [caption id=“attachment_2036147” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. Reuters[/caption] In fact, the market value of listed stocks in his portfolio rose by an average of 17 percent in the current calendar year as against 9 percent gain by Sensex. Among the blue-chip companies, Jhunjhunwala and his family added 3.43 percent stake in Tata Motors DVRs since March 2015. Recently, during a conference call conducted by Tata Motors, he urged the company’s management to improve disclosure on its hedging practices. So, how has been the journey for this outspoken investor so far. Starting his tryst with stock market journey somewhere in mid 1980s, some of his early investment in stocks were in Sesa Goa and Tata power, which gave him exceptional returns. Known as a hardcore ‘bull’, a term used for investors who are extremely positive on the markets, Jhunjhunwala always believed that India will see prosperity which we can’t imagine right now. However, he dislikes when people compares him with Warren Buffett, the US stock market billionaire. He says, Buffett is far ahead of him in terms of wealth, success and maturity. “It’s not a fitting comparison. In terms of wealth and success and maturity, he’s far, far ahead,” Jhunjhunwala said in an interview to Reuters. Being a qualified Chartered Accountant, Jhunjhunwala also manages his asset management firm called Rare Enterprises, which manages financial asset management, infrastructure asset management, enterprise asset management and public asset management. The ace investor was also rated 53rd richest person in India with net assets to the tune of $2.2 billion as of October 2016, a Forbes report then said. Jhunjhunwala is also currently the chairman of Aptech Ltd and Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Ltd. He is also on the board of directors of various Indian firms such as Prime Focus Limited, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, Bilcare, Praj Industries, Provogue India, Concord Biotech, Innovasynth Technologies, Mid Day Multimedia, Nagarjuna Construction Company, Viceroy Hotels and Tops Security. One of the rare moments when his bets failed to yield results, Jhunjhunwala’s stocks fell by up to 30 percent in December 2011, but recovered his losses in February 2012. Also, his various attempts to offload his stake in Aptech had no takers, but being a firm believer in the company’s fundamentals he increased his stake in Aptech by 2.24 percent to 12.7 percent in May 2012. Jhunjhunwala had also invested $4.6 Million in A2Z Maintenance, and currently holds 23.2 percent stake in the company. However, the maverick investor has so far stayed away from investing in startups because of steep valuations they command and absence of strategy to turn profitable.