D-Street after Rakesh Jhunjhunwala: Bulls everywhere, but no claimants for Big Bull throne

NEW DELHI: The inspirational story of how a chartered accountant went on to make $5.5 billion from just Rs 5,000 made Rakesh Jhunjhunwala the Pied Piper whose success made lakhs of retail investors shift a part of their savings from bank fixed deposits to stocks. Dalal Street's retail army has become three times stronger since March 2020 as the value of retail holding has surged to an all-time high of Rs 21.68 lakh crore in the last quarter.

Jhunjhunwala, who passed away following a prolonged illness on this day last year, has left the 'Big Bull' thone empty even as the Street looks flooded with bulls on almost every nook and corner.

Often described as India's Warren Buffett, Jhunjhunwala was the epitome of the eternal bull and was often heard saying 'The mother of all bull markets is coming'.


His peers admit that there is a huge gap between him and any other bull after him. Jhunjhunwala remains India's last stock market billionaire as Radhakishan Damani's $17 billion wealth is largely attributed to investment in Avenue Supermarts or DMart where Damani is a promoter.



After Rekha Jhunjhunwala, whose net worth is now estimated to be around $6.1 billion, Akash Bhansali and Mukul Agrawal (over Rs 4,000 crore each) are India's most rich investors in the public market, shows data from Trendlyne.

Ashish Dhawan's net worth is estimated at Rs 3.135 crore while that of Ashish Kacholia is worth around Rs 2,378 crore.

If institutions are included in the list, then the state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India or LIC is India's largest domestic investor which made a profit of over Rs 14,000 crore in Q1 from the sale of its equity investments.

“With just investing it is almost impossible to become a billionaire today because there is so little inefficiency in the system and everyone is factoring in all the news almost instantly,” Zerodha Founder and CEO Nithin Kamath had told ETMarkets earlier.

Jhunjhunwala portfolio
As a trader-cum-investor Jhunjhunwala minted a fortune with stocks like Titan, Sesa Goa (now Vedanta), CRISIL, and Lupin. Jhunjhunwala family's largest bet remains Titan where they own a 5.4% stake which is valued at about Rs 14,300 crore.

Other top bets include Star Health, Tata Motors, Metro Brands, Crisil, NCC, Canara Bank, Indian Hotels, and Fortis.

As per the latest corporate shareholdings filed, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and associates publicly hold 26 stocks, according to Trendlyne.