When Rakesh Jhunjhunwala said, 'Bhaav bhagwan hai, hum kadradaan hai’

Any interaction with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was bound to have its share of interesting one-liners, anecdotes or investment mantras.

In an interaction more than a decade back, the ace investor had said “Bhaav bhagwan hai, hum kadradaan hai” (price is God and we just need to appreciate that) while talking about trading and accepting the reality.

The ‘Bug Bull’ had said -- during his interaction with business channel CNBC -- that the only reality is what the market is showing us and not what one wants to see and there could be times when the market may be defying logic and fundamentals but one only needs to sit tight and wait for the right moment or opportunity.

And the man from Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu was no exception when it came to waiting for the right opportunity or perhaps even losing one!

In 1991, Jhunjhunwala took a huge bet on cement major ACC even though he felt that the overall market valuations were quite high and even ACC was quoting at very high valuations.

The fundamental analyst and number cruncher within him told him that the cement major recently had its best quarter but he still sold the shares at around Rs 3,500 only to see the stock surge to Rs 10,000 after he sold.

A few years later when he was asked about this incident, he said that it was a valuable lesson that while fundamentals matter, one also needs to look at overall market sentiments as well.

But he was a ‘Big Bull’ in a true sense. In 1989, when some of the biggest names of the market were bearish as V P Singh came into power and Madhu Dandavate was named the finance minister.

Ahead of the budget, there was a huge buzz that the government would opt for a socialist budget with new taxes being introduced. It certainly did not mean well for the markets.

But Jhunjhunwala was bullish. He believed that the then prime minister who was a ‘thakur’ understood business and he would never allow a budget that is unfriendly towards the business community.

He had taken huge positions ahead of the budget and in the coming days he saw many of his investments double in value!