Radhakishan Damani is an Indian entrepreneur, investor and the Founder of DMart, a supermarket retail chain. With a passion for trading and investing, Radhakishan is also a renowned name in the world of investment and the share market. After a successful career in trading and investment, he tried his hand at retail business and laid the foundation of DMart in 2002.

With a net worth of $18.6 Billion, Radhakishan Damani is currently the 4th richest person in India. He is a self-made billionaire and has also been named in the list of Forbes’ Top 100 richest people in the world.

Coming from a humble background, Radhakishan is introverted in nature and keeps himself away from the limelight and controversies of media. He made very few public appearances and is the true embodiment of “Actions speak louder than words”.

Interesting Facts About Radhakishan Damani

Radhakishan Damani is also popularly known as ‘Mr. White and White’ because he wears a simple white shirt most of the time.
In 2021, he bought the most expensive house in India worth over $100 million. He also owns a 156-room Radisson Blu Resort in Alibaug.
Radhakishan Damani was the mentor of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and they were both referred to as ‘Jai-Veeru of Dalal Street’.

The Early Life

Radhakishan was born in 1954 to a Marwari family in Bikaner, Rajasthan. Born in a middle-class family, he was familiar with the nature of business as his father had a ball bearings business. After completing his school education, Radhakishan pursued B.Com from ‘The University of Mumbai’ but left his bachelor’s degree midway through to start his own business in investing.

Radhakishan was in Mumbai when he joined his father’s ball-bearing business and started doing quite well. After the demise of his father, Radhakishan left the ball-bearing business and entered the world of stock broking. With very minimal knowledge of stock broking, Radhakishan joined his brother’s stock broking business in his 20s.

Journey Of Damani’s Stock Market Career

With a speculative observation of the market, Damani masters the art of investment. And now Damani is considered the undefeated king of the stock market world. Not many people know that Damani is also a mentor of ‘The Big Bull of India’, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

Being a beginner in the broking business, Radhakishan was very clear in his mind that he would start by speculating and observing the stock market and its strategies instead of directly involving in trading the stocks. He began his career as a stockbroker but soon he realised that to make real money in the market, he needs to trade his own money instead of just being a stockbroker.

Understanding the flexibility and different swings of the market worked in favour of Damani. By trading his own money in the stock market, he started to make huge profits. Radhakishan was a very flexible trader and knew exactly when to invest and when to pull out his money from the market.

Damani always values long-term investments. He made huge profits by investing in long-term investment options. However, he also made significant profits by short-selling. Damani popularized the concept of short selling of stocks during the time of the Harshad Mehta Scam, which was not so common back then. He sensed the manipulation played by Harshad Mehta on some stocks and knew that they would eventually fall down. His market insight and the decision to sell the stocks at that time earned him huge profits.

Damani’s farsightedness, prescient vision and instinct made him the most successful trader of Dalal Street. The best-performing stocks from his investment portfolio include Aptech Ltd, Advani Hotels & Resorts (India) Ltd, Blue Dart, 3M India and India Cements.

DMart

After gaining huge success in the stock market world, Radhakishan decided to start his own business in the retail industry. And that is when he launched one of the most successful retail stores, DMart.

Launched in 2002, DMart is a supermarket and hypermarket chain in India. Currently, DMart has 284 stores all over India spreading across 11 states in India. The first store of DMart was established in Powai, Mumbai that focused on grocery items only. Today, DMart offers a wide range of products including home care and personal products. The various brands of DMart include DMart Premia, Dutch Harbour, DHomes and DMart Minimax.

The industry experience of Damani has helped greatly in the success of DMart. One of his own techniques that he opted to help the growth of DMart was just so impressive. Radhakishan Damani did not follow what others were doing. Where most retail chains rented the stores for their operations, DMart runs its operations in its own stores. He never opened a store that is not owned by him. This is also the reason why DMart never closes any stores after opening them.

After announcing the IPO of the Supermarket chain Avenue Supermart in 2017, Radhakishan Damani emerged as ‘India’s Retail King’. The IPO was a big hit and made a record opening on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Today, DMart captures a 22% share of the retail industry in India. With a strategic mind and farsighted vision of Radhakishan, DMart is one of the most preferred names in supermarket stores in India.

Radhakishan Damani As A Philanthropist

Radhakishan Damani is not just a king of the retail industry but also a king of hearts. Damani always believed in giving back to society in every possible way. Without attracting much of the limelight, he gives remarkable contributions to the betterment of society.

At the time of the Covid Pandemic, Radhakishan donated a generous amount of ₹100 crores to PM CARES Fund and approximately ₹55 crores to State relief funds. Radhakishan also initiated a charity to help people who are undergoing treatment at a nominal cost in South Mumbai. This charity is being run by Shivkishan Mindaram Damani Charitable Trust. A trust owned by the Damani family. Being a camera-shy person, Radhakishan often keeps his charity and CSR Projects secret.