Radhakishan Damani (RD) is an Indian businessman, investor and stock trader. He is famous for founding the superstore chain DMart, which earned him the title of ‘Retail King of India’.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Radhakishan Damani was born in 1954 (age 67 years; as in 2021) in Bikaner, Rajasthan. He did his schooling in Mumbai and then, he joined Mumbai University. He dropped out in his first year of college, where he was pursuing Bachelor of Commerce.
Physical Appearance
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper (semi-bald)
Eye colour: black
family and caste
Radhakishan Damani was born in a poverty-stricken Marwari family.
parents and siblings
His father, Shivkishanji Damani, was a stockbroker on Dalal Street. RD’s brother, Gopikishan Damani, is a stock trader and investor.
Relationships, wife and children
Shri Damani is married to Shrikantdevi Radhakishan Damani. The couple has three daughters, Manjari Damani Chandak, Jyoti Kabra and Madhu Chandak.
Radhakishan Damani’s wife at the listing ceremony of Avenue Supermarts Limited (D-Mart)
Madhu Chandak, daughter of Radhakishan Damani
Manjari Damani Chandak, daughter of Radhakishan Damani.
Radhakishan Damani’s daughter Jyoti Kabra
Address
He lives with his family on Altamount Road, Mumbai.
livelihood
as a stockbroker
After leaving college, Mr. Damani started his own ball-bearing business. At the age of 32, he left this business due to his father’s untimely demise and joined his brother as a stockbroker on Dalal Street. When RD joined the stock market, it was ruled by the bear cartel of Manu Manek (also known as Cobra). Mr. Damani learned how to short sell stocks from Manu, and later, he applied the same strategies to counter the bullish strategy of his enemy Harshad Mehta. It is rumored that Radhakishan was part of a recession group called ‘Triple-R’ in the late 90s. The three Rs of the group were Radhakishan Damani, Raju (a chartist), and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (the future Big Bull). Triple-R and Harshad Mehta were considered arch rivals. Reportedly, they first fought over the stock of Apollo Tyres. Mr. Damani and Mr. Rakesh felt that the stock price of Apollo Tires was too high. So, they started selling the stock short, oblivious to the fact that Harshad was illegally manipulating the stock price. RD and his group suffered heavy losses. Harshad Mehta was later found guilty of orchestrating the 1992 financial scam. In an interview after the scam was exposed, Mr. Damani said,
If Harshad had held his position for seven more days, I would have had to hit the road with a mortar.
The scam of 1992 caused many investors and stockbrokers to lose their money. RD helped many small investors by buying their depreciated shares. He also helped the clients of Dina Mehta (another famous stockbroker) after the Ketan Parekh scam of 2001. In an interview, talking about Mr. Damani’s helpful gesture, Dina said,
When some of our clients got stuck in Videocon and BPL shares, RD helped us by managing their positions… These shares were not salable as there were no buyers in the market. RD is a very positive player in times of crisis. He is a smart investor; Makes more money when he is in a recession.
Graph of stock market decline due to Harshad Mehta scam of 1992
Mr Damani’s multi-bagger holdings include 1% stake in VST Industries, HDFC Bank, Sundaram Finance, ITC, Gillette, CRISIL, ICRA, 3M India, Blue Dart Express, Prozone Intu Properties, Uniply Industries, India Cements and Andhra Paper . He invested in VST Industries Limited in 2000 when its stock was around Rs. But was doing business. 80 per share. The share price increased to Rs. 3600 in 2020. Similarly, the share price of Sundaram Finance increased from Rs. 270 per share to Rs. 1800 in 2021. Such investments helped Mr. Damani earn immense wealth.
Increase in share price of VST Industries Limited
In 1995, HDFC Bank went public in IPO and RD raised Rs. Shares worth Rs 400 crore. 40 per share; The share price is trading at Rs. 2600 by 2020. In an interview, when asked why he chose HDFC Bank instead of a PSU bank like SBI, Mr. Damani is said to have said,
Dharavi is Dharavi, and Peddar Road is Peddar Road…go ahead and check the price of HDFC.
as an entrepreneur
RD took a break from the stock market in the late 90s to focus on his retail business venture. In 2002, he started a hypermarket chain, DMart (registered as Avenue Supermarts Limited) with a single outlet in Powai. As of 2020, DMart has more than 200 stores spread almost across India.
Mr Damani went public with his retail chain in March 2017 with an offer price of Rs 299 per share, rising to Rs 2900 in 2021. DMart’s market capitalization grew from Rs 38,000 crore in March 2017 to Rs 1.6 lakh crore by June. 2020, making it more valuable than Britannia Industries, Asian Paints, Bank of Baroda and even Nestle.
Increase in market capitalization of DMart
net worth
In March 2024, Radhakishan Damani’s net worth was approximately $17.2 billion, making him the ninth richest person in India. His material assets are listed as follows.
- 156-room Radisson Blu Resort in Alibaug, Maharashtra.
- A getaway home located on a beach close to Mumbai.
Facts/General Knowledge
- Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (The Big Bull) considers Radhakishan Damani as his mentor. Talking about his guru in an interview, Rakesh said,
I learned business from him… He has intelligence, immense patience and humility… The patience he has to listen to the other person is incredible… He taught me life and shaped my nature. If he and my father were not there to guide me, I would not have achieved so much success.”
Radhakishan Damani with his apprentice Rakesh Jhunjhunwala
- He has admitted that established investor Chandrakant Sampat is his inspiration. He learned a lot from Mr. Sampath’s value investing in the 80’s and 90’s.
- RD is rumored to have predicted the 2001 tech bubble and the 2008 global recession. The tech bubble led to excessive use of the Internet by business companies, which led to the stock market crash.
- Actor Paresh Ganatra played the role based on Radhakishan Damani in SonyLIV’s hit web series Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story.
- RD is the fourth richest Indian as of 2020 (Mukesh Ambani tops the list).
- Mr. Damani is fondly called Mr. White and White by his family and close friends because of his love for white shirts and white pants.
- Radhakishan Damani stays away from talking to the media and is rarely seen in any program related to the stock market.
- He loves to roam around Girgaum Chowpatty.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn