The largest individual investor in the domestic equities market Rakesh Jhunjunwala has said he wants the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to return to power after the summer elections.
The ace investor has expressed that BJP will return to power with a surprising tally. The party, Jhunjhunwala said, will return because of the changes in attitudes brought by PM Modi. He also voiced his support for issues like Uniform Civil Code, Ram temple and buying property in Jammu and Kashmir, reported PTI.
Speaking at TiECON Summit in Mumbai, Jhunjhunwala said India was currently at its most stable demographic evolution. “India has raised its growth level in each decade since independence,” he said, reported The Economic Times.
A Word for Non-Professional Investors
Stating that he is keeping away from investing in start-ups as it is difficult to understand their business like the one presented by cab aggregator Uber, he said, "Though many of them talk about innovation, there is little uniqueness in them and many of them are like 'me-too' companies." The only savings the big bull has now is a fixed deposit of Rs 50,000 in a bank and Rs 1 crore in public provident fund, while rest of huge investments are in equities, he said.
"I must put 5-10 percent of my money into (savings products)... age is catching up, and I should limit my risk appetite," Jhunjunwala said.
The ace investor is reported to have a net-worth of over USD 2.7 billion or nearly Rs 19,000 crore.
Jhunjunwala said he will also leave 5 percent of his fortune in fixed deposits for his two kids, which cannot be touched by them but can ensure easy survival even if they blow the rest of the fortune in gambling in Macau.
Terming investing as serious business, he advised non-professional investors like the salaried class to invest through the mutual-funds route and keep aside not more than 10 percent for self-investing if excitement is what they are looking for.
On the bloodbath in the mid-caps last year, in which he lost heavily, Jhunjunwala said investors should blame themselves for the mistake of investing at such high valuations.
‘Governance Practices 5,000 Times Better Now’
He, however, quickly added there was no fundamental issue with any of those stocks which bore the brunt of the market mayhem and the problem for investors was only high valuations.
Blaming the IL&FS crisis on multiple issues including lax regulation, he expressed satisfaction with the corporate governance practices in companies saying those are 5,000 times better than the olden days.
(With inputs from PTI and The Economic Times)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)