Radhakishan Damani

Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani: Early Life And Education 

Radhakishan Damani was born on 12th July 1995 in a Marwari family in Bikaner, Rajasthan. He is an Indian billionaire investor and businessman. Radhakishan Damani is known as the founder and chairman of one of the biggest retail chain stores - D-Mart, which is owned and operated by Avenue Supermarts. 

Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani is known as “Mr. White and White” due to his subtle white shirt and pants attire. He was born to a middle-class Marwari family in Bikaner, Rajasthan. In his initial years, Mr.Damani lived with his family in a one-bedroom accommodation in Mumbai.

Radhakishan Damani’s father, Shivkishanji Damani, used to work on Dalal Street as a stockbroker. However, Radhakishan Damani (RD) was neither interested in the stock market nor in studies. He started his education in Mumbai at the University of Mumbai, but dropped out in the first year. After dropping out, Radhakishan Damani started his own auto ancillary business in the ball-bearing segment. 

Entry To The Stock Market

After the demise of his father, (RD) Radhakishan Damani had to shut his ball-bearing business and join the stockbroking business of his family. In his 20s, RD learned the skill of short-selling by observing Manu Manek, one of the best short sellers of his time. 

With constant observation and practice, Radhakishan Damani made his enormous fortune in the Indian stock market through short selling. He believed that stock prices in the 80s and 90s were inflated due to bullish market sentiment fueled by extensive buying by Harshad Mehta. Radhakishan Damani and some other traders used to short, large positions against Harsha Mehta’s bullish positions and earned huge profits. 

However, Radhakishan Damani networth took a big hit during and in the aftermath of the Harshad Mehta scam of 1992. After observing the catastrophic effects of the scam on novice investors, Radhakishan Damani restricted himself from stock trading and became a long-term investor. He focused on wealth creation through long-term investing under the supervision of Chandrakant Sampat, the ace value investor. 

Radhakishan Damani’s Journey From D-Street to D-Mart

Having spent many years in the stock market since the age of 32, Radhakishan Damani decided to venture into the retail business in 2002. He started his retail business with the hypermarket chain D-mart under the parent company, Avenue Supermarts. The first D-Mart store was opened in Powai, Mumbai, in 2002. Initially, D-Mart experienced stiff competition from competitors. With time, it gained popularity due to its operational efficiency, low-priced product and robust business model. 

Radhakishan Damani's primary goal with Avenue Supemarts-owned D-Mart was to offer its customers a range of home essentials and personal care products at a discounted price. Currently, D-Mart offers its product range across 415 locations in India and operates around 365 stores. 

Due to its great success, Radhakishan Damani took Avenue Supermarts public in 2017. The IPO was a great hit, with a listing price of ₹604.40 against the issue price of ₹299, representing a gain of 102.14%. As per the filing of Dec 2024, Avenue Supermarts has a 67.2% shareholding in Radhakishan Damani’s portfolio.

Top Stocks In Radhakishan Damani Portfolio

VST Industries 

Radhakishan Damani invested in VST Industries in 2000 at ₹ 85 per share. Further, in 2001, he increased his share in the company to 15% for an average price of ₹ 88. VST Industries has been integral to Radhakishan Damani networth. He currently has 29.1%  in the company, valued at 1,352.9 crores. 

HDFC Bank 

Just like VST Industries, HDFC Bank Limited turned out to be a multiabagger for Radhakishan Damani. In 1995, when HDFC launched an IPO, RD invested approximately 400 cr. in the offer at ₹ 40 per share. Today, HDFC Bank is trading at a price of ₹1805.20, a more than 4000% rise in the stock price. 

India Cements 

Radhakishan Damani started investing in India Cements in 2015 and, since then, has kept increasing his stake. However, Damani and his entities sold nearly a 24% stake in the company to Ultratech Cement at an average price of ₹277 a share. With this block deal,  Radhakishan Damani and entities earned a whopping sum of ₹1,914 crores.

Lessons to Learn From Radhakishan Damani’s Investing 

You are never late 

For people who think age restricts them from starting something new, you must look at Radhakishan Damani’s journey. He started his career in stock market trading at the age of 32. Even after such a late start, he was able to amass a tremendous amount of wealth. As per Forbes, the current Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani networth is 1,770 crores, indicating that wealth creation is not defined by age.

The value of a mentor 

Personalities like Manu Manek and Chandrakant Sampat were key mentors in Radhakishan Damani’s stock market journey. These figures helped Radhakishan Damani to learn and apply the skills of stock trading and investing, resulting in the accumulation of immense wealth. Thus, having a good mentor can help you significantly in your endeavours, just like RD’s mentor did for him. 

Be focused on investing

Radhakishan Damani kept his investing style simple and straightforward. He followed and stuck to his investing plans and avoided the noise to stay focused. Radhakishan Damani networth grew exponentially because of his focused long-term investing in undervalued stocks while ignoring short-term fluctuations. 

Start small to make it big

D-Mart did not have a smooth and fast-paced growth trajectory in its initial days. It faced competition from other hypermarket chain stores like Big Bazaar and Reliance Fresh. Also, Radhakishan Damani took the expansion plans of D-Mart slowly, with only 8 new stores in 10 years. However, these slow steps led to the creation of one of India's biggest hypermarket chains.