‘India's Warren Buffett' dies at 62
INDIA's best-known stock investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, dubbed the country's Warren Buffett, died on Sunday (14), prompting an outpouring of tributes for a self-made billionaire whose fortunes rose with the country's economy.
Jhunjhunwala died at the age of 62, a week after the launch of his budget airline, Akasa Air. He had looked and sounded frail promoting the carrier. The cause of his death was not immediately known.
He is survived by his wife, whom he used to call his only client, and three children. He leaves stakes in around three dozen Indian companies and a legacy of quoting one-liners like ‘the trend is your friend' and ‘the only rule I have is there are no rules'.
‘All I've known is trading and investing. I don't want to do anything else in life,' Jhunjhunwala told Reuters 10 years ago. ‘I'll call it quits the day I die.'
He told CNBC-TV18 that India's economy, Asia's third-biggest, was ‘entering a golden age,' expressing hope that ‘my fellow Indians are as optimistic as I am.'
Jhunjhunwala was a big public supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who lauded him on Sunday as ‘indomitable, full of life, witty and insightful'.
Jhunjhunwala's communication skills helped small investors understand the stock market, said businessmen and bankers based in India's financial capital, Mumbai, who had interacted with him for over 30 years. His insights on the economy and companies made him a TV celebrity.
Born in the state of Rajasthan and trained in chartered accountancy, Jhunjhunwala started dabbling in stocks as a teenager and went on to manage a stock trading firm, RARE Enterprises. His net worth was about $6 billion, according to Forbes.