The big bull had expressed many of his thoughts when it came to "success". He once quoted that "Success should not make you think you are God's gift to mankind. You should never forget that you are what you are because God chose you to be there."
He believed that apart from being the motivation for themselves, the big givers should also talk about their philanthropy so that their work and their success stories provide inspiration enough for many others to follow.
As per reports, in a FIFA annual meet in 2019, when talking about success, Jhunjhunwala said, "we never extrapolate".
While addressing the event, Jhunjhunwala revealed that in 1988, his net worth was around ₹1 crore, and in 1993, it was ₹200 crore. He said that this does not mean that in 2000, it is going to be ₹800 crore. In fact, he revealed that in 2002 also, his net worth was about ₹250 crore.
Thereby, Jhunjhunwala said, we cannot extrapolate things. He believed success is always transient and temporary.
He quoted in the event, "We cannot extrapolate things. You take success with paranoia and it is always transient and temporary."
His words definitely proved right in his success. That the money he made was always volatile, but in long term, it flourished. Jhunjhunwala was a long-term investor and he was extremely bullish over the longer period. Many of his stocks have been in his portfolio for quite a few years until he saw new opportunities and accordingly shifted and diversified his investments in the market.
He believed markets may in the short-term correct but in a bull market -- the correction is sharp, swift, and short-lived. He once said that markets tend to shake an investor up before going for a bull run.
A decade after 2002, Jhunjhunwala was sitting on billions of dollars of wealth.
Data on Forbes show that Jhunjhunwala's wealth was around $1.3 billion in 2013 which declined to $1.2 billion in 2014 but picked up to $2.1 billion in the very next year (2015) -- which means his wealth nearly doubled. But the next two years were dull for Jhunjhunwala as his wealth stood at $1.8 billion in 2016 and edged up to $2.2 billion in 2017. He crossed the wealth of $3 billion in 2018, before falling to a net worth of $2.8 billion in 2019 and further lower to $1.9 billion in 2020 due to the pandemic which hit the country's economy severely including markets.
The data showed that between 2013 to 2020, his wealth barely made a significant jump. However, this net worth is still higher than what Jhunjhunwala had achieved in 2002, the key is still that there was growth in the long term.
Further, the data showed that 2021 was a strong year for Jhunjhunwala as his wealth more than doubled to $4.3 billion and further to $5.8 billion in 2022 as of now.
As per Forbes, the $5.8 billion net worth of Jhunjhunjhunwala is real-time as of August 14, 2022. In Indian rupees, currently, this wealth is more than ₹46,000 crore.
He is currently ranked as the 438th billionaire on Forbes List 2022. While he is the 36th richest man in India as per the 2021 list.
Jhunjhunwala decided to choose a career in investing and trading in the stock market in 1984 after he completed his Chartered Accountant degree. He began his investment with just ₹5,000 in the stock market, during this time the Sensex was around 150 level. His first stock was Tata Tea which rose from ₹43 apiece to a whopping ₹143 apiece in just three months of his buying. He made massive gains from this stock. In the next three years, his shares in Tata Tea garnered him gains of around ₹25 lakh which was also his first big profit.
Coming back to 2022, another Tata Group-backed Titan Company is the largest stock in his portfolio. As per Trendlyne data, Jhunjhunwala's wealth stood around ₹11,086.9 crore in Titan as of August 12, 2022.
At present, his portfolio has 32 stocks with a net worth of nearly ₹32,000 crore in August so far. Jhunjhunwala has also made investments in Bollywood movies and other firms including startups that are not listed. He also founded the new airline in the aviation industry, Akasa Air which began its commercial operations a week ago. He managed an asset firm Rare Enterprises.
India Inc and markets are mourning the loss of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala today, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his condolences to the investor's family.
PM Modi tweeted, "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. My condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti."
Rakesh was married to Rekha Jhunjhunwala in whose name he also invested. He was a father to three children.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was born on July 5, 1960.
