Radhakishan Damani: The visionary investor and retail maverick

Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani is an Indian billionaire businessman and investor, known as the founder and chairman of the retail chain Avenue Supermarts Limited.
Raised in a Maheshwari Marwari Hindu family in a single-room apartment in Mumbai.
Started studying commerce at the University of Mumbai but dropped out after one year.
Following his father’s death, who worked on Dalal Street, Damani left his ball-bearing business and entered the stock market as a broker and investor.
Made profits through short-selling stocks in the 1990s and became reportedly the largest individual shareholder of HDFC Bank.
After the Harshad Mehta Scam in 1992, Damani saw a significant rise in income due to short-selling profits.
Operated a franchise of Apna Bazaar in 1999 but was unconvinced by its business model.
Quit the stock market and started his own hypermarket chain, DMart, with the first store in Powai in 2002.
The DMart chain grew rapidly, and the company went public in 2017.

As of 2024, Damani’s estimated net worth is US$18.3 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and $17 billion according to Forbes.
In 2020, he became the fourth-richest Indian with a net worth of $16.5 billion, ranking #117 on the global list of billionaires.
In 2022, he was ranked #87 on the global list (Forbes) of billionaires.

Damani holds stakes in various companies, including tobacco firm VST Industries and cement producer India Cements.
Acquired a 1% stake in Andhra Paper and a 15% stake in India Cements in May 2020, taking his investment in India Cements to 19.89%.
Publicly holds 14 stocks in his investment portfolio, with the total value of his stock portfolio approximately ₹178,572.4 crore (US$22 billion) in 2023.