This is how Radhakishan Damani became India’s second richest person

Radhakishan Damani entered the retail market with one store in Mumbai back in 2002. Today, roughly 18 years later, Damani is just one spot behind Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India and also his Altamount-road neighbour

According to Forbes, Damani is now India’s second richest man with a massive net worth of Rs 1.2 lakh crores. This stupendous growth mainly pertains to the first IPO of Avenue Supermarts, which owns all of the D-mart stores across India, in March 2017. After a rally of more than 5% in Avenue Supermarts’ shares last week, Damani dethroned Shiv Nadar to take hold of the second spot. Let’s get a clearer idea about who he is and how he built his empire below:

5 facts about Radhakishan Damani and how he became India’s second richest person

• Radhakishan Damani hails from a Marwadi family, one that always had ties with the stock market. His family, including his brother, children and wife are all dedicated towards the growth of D-Mart through various avenues. His daughter assumes the position of the Director at Avenue Supermarts, which is the parent company of D-Mart. Another 58% stake in D-Mart is held by Bright Star, which is jointly owned by Damani and his wife and three trustees in the form of his children.

• Radhakishan Damani’s first introduction to the stock market was due to the untimely death of his father. However, he now stands as one of the most famous personalities on the stock market, all thanks to his timely investments and strategies. He holds stakes in VST Industries, United Breweries and Blue Dart Express Ltd. Two of which (VST Industries and Blue Dart) are his best-performing stocks along with Sundaram Finance and India Cements.

• The 65-year-old always had an eye for consumer retail and his first investment in this space dates back to the early 2000s, when he purchased a franchise of ‘Apna Bazar’, as reported by Economic Times. Only a couple of years later came the inception of his most successful venture, D-Mart. They started off with one store in Mumbai in 2002, and now have more than 200 stores across the country.
• Damani controls Avenue Supermarts, a Mumbai-based retailer specialising in low-priced consumer goods. The publicly traded business sells food, clothing and other consumer products in almost 200 D-Mart shops across India. It reported revenue of Rs 20,712 crores in the year-ended March 31, 2019, according to Bloomberg.

• The striking growth, however, came 15 years later in March 2017, with D-Mart’s Initial Public Offering (IPO). And, according to LiveMint, on the day of its listing, the Avenue Supermarts stock rose by 114.30% from its offer price of Rs 299. Additionally, their market capitalisation touched Rs 61,731.32 crore, which was a 54.37% rise from Rs 39,988.21 when it was listed. This growth placed Radhakishan Damani in the top 20 Indian billionaire list. However, the stock kept on soaring and gained a 230% markup from its issue price. One of the main reasons, Damani is now India’s second richest person.

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