Those who know Radhakishan Damani, the 66-year-old founder of Indian retail giant DMart, describe him as a focussed wealth creator and a common below-the-radar operator, a lot like his superior old buddy Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, India’s ace stock industry investor. In truth, DMart’s web-site also describes Damani as “an astute investor in the Indian equity market.” Therefore, when the news was out that Damani had purchased a new 5752,22 sq metre household in the tony Malabar Hill of Mumbai for a whopping Rs 1001 crore, not lots of had been shocked. A close buddy of Damani in truth finds each Jhunjhunwala and Damani as really superior pals but poles apart as personalities as says: “Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is very impulsive and more vocal whereas Radhakishan is not so impulsive and a keen listener,” On his new asset acquisition in Mumbai, his pals say, Damani is normally not the sort to show off and the investment was maybe triggered by the truth that he has to invest his wealth someplace and that is what could have also led to his other such choices like the one to get a hotel in Alibagh. Damani’s DMart has come a extended way and post the Reliance-Future deal becomes the next greatest player in the organised Indian retail space. His business Avenue Supermarts, a listed business, which runs DMart has for the FY 19-20 posted a net profit of Rs 1,349.89 crore on revenues of Rs 24,675.01 crore.
Kishore Biyani, the trail blazer in Indian retail who has experimented with a variety of formats and exited, sees Damani as “a simple, humble person who works with limited number of variables and is highly focussed.”
ALSO Study: Radhakishan Damani’s Rs 1,000 crore household: DMart founder buys new home at Mumbai’s Malabar Hill
Those who track the retail sector also discover Damani’s method to wealth creation as fairly focussed. Arvind Singhal, a retail sector specialist and the chairman and managing director of Technopak, a top management consulting firm, says in contrast to what most refer to Damani as an ace investor in the stock industry, what is apparent about Damani, he says, is that “he comes across as a terribly shrewd businessman who has never been distracted in terms of attending different formats or geographies. He has stayed focussed on his retail delivery format and model, geographical spread (with footprint still across 11 states and one union territory of Daman), cost management and value for customers. So, it is no surprise therefore that he has ended up creating a lot of wealth for himself and his other shareholders.” Incidentally, he has “Damani has never been lobbying against foreign investment in Indian retail, which perhaps is quite unique despite his scale and size of operations.”