A great learner, RJ knew how to change his view when things changed: Vikas Khemani

“During Covid, he sold lots of positions and recognised the change of the situation and in a couple of months’ time he turned completely bullish or he bought lots of stocks when he realised that pessimism had hit the roof,” says Vikas Khemani, Founder, Carnelian Capital.


A sad day indeed for the entire market community and not only just that for India as a whole. What were your learnings from Mr Jhunjhunwala? People say that not only was he a gem of a man when it came to investment but he was a gem of a person as well.
Absolutely. I have known him for so many years and it is a very sad and personal loss to me. His investing legend is very well known for the unique and rare combination of great investor and a great trader. He epitomised conviction, courage and more importantly optimism.


He is the one who made the entire Indian capital market even middle class believe in the Indian markets and was instrumental in generating millions to create wealth and that was important. There are many investors who invest and are successfully doing that but Rakesh Bhaiya not only invested but also he inspired millions and shared his view.

He never shied away from sharing his thoughts and views and giving ideas to people very openly and he was accessible to many people like whenever we needed him. He is always available and that was a unique thing about him. Apart from investing, on the human side, very few people who know him personally know that he was a very genuinely caring human being.

He might sometimes come across as a bit aggressive but at the same time he genuinely cared for people around him and would care to check on them how they are. He was accessible, humble and his lifestyle was very simple. He never boasted the kind of wealth he had and made difference to others including a large part of the money which he committed to give back to society.

There were many facets to Rakesh Bhaiya. He was a jewel. We will definitely miss him and there were many instances where I personally got to learn a lot from him as an investor as a human being. He always used to say, try to be a good human. His lifestyle did not change, his costs did not increase. His wife is very simple and all those things he shared openly. His legend will always live on and we will miss him. It is very rare to see such individuals who not only do well for themselves but also make a difference to millions.

What are your fondest memories of Mr Jhunjhunwala?
There are two – one, I remember him telling me once that “I have gone wrong on many investors on the investment ideas but I have never called a promoter or shouted at him when I have gone wrong on or if the investment does not work for me. I always go back and check what mistake I made to get the call right or wrong, what did I misjudge in this.”

It is a great quality of an investor not to blame others but even when there is investment, everybody appreciates the good investment that has worked. But people do not understand what has gone behind a bad investment. Very often the blame game is on when investments go wrong and the promoters of the companies are abused.

But here was RJ, an investor with a successful track record but he always looked at the big picture and that was something very inspiring. On a personal side, I have a very that really touched my heart. Once I had gone to meet him and I was waiting outside and suddenly I got a message from my wife that my father-in-law has to be hospitalised.

I just messaged him that bhaiya I am leaving and I will come back after some time, in weeks and all because my father-in-law has to be hospitalised and he had never met my father-in-law in his life. The matter got over and I could not meet him for the next three-four weeks. Generally, there was no communication between us but a couple of months later, we met him in one of the parties in the evening and he met my wife and the first question he asked her was how is your father? To me that just shows how deeply caring he was.

At a personal level. he was a very genuine human being and all of us have idiosyncrasies but people who know him closely will know how caring he was.

These words living life and how important it is not to have regrets and take the decision quickly that is the term he has always said he is quite optimistic, even during Covid time, he was like everyone will get past this, the markets will get past this; that optimism about life is not seen in a lot of people.
Absolutely, I think facing adversity with a sense of reality was something he always believed in. He also knew how to change his view when things changed. During Covid, he sold lots of positions and recognised the change of the situation and in a couple of months’ time he turned completely bullish or he bought lots of stocks when he realised that pessimism has hit the roof.

So how to admit the reality and change your view with courage and conviction is a very great quality he had and he was always a learner. You cannot get wise without being a learner, luck is not enough. Unless you learn from each of your mistakes and improvise on it, you cannot have a great outcome. There is no question that he was a lifelong learner and he used to always inspire others to learn and one of the rarest qualities he had was that he always shared his learning. That in my opinion is a very important quality which most participants in the capital market will always remember.