Market rally swells Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's wealth to Rs 14,000 crore: Here're the top performers

NEW DELHI: The rapid rise in stock prices in recent weeks, which has helped the benchmark indices hit record highs every other day, has swelled the value of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s stock portfolio to Rs 14,000 crore after a steep fall in the Covid-19 crash earlier this year.

Titan Company, Escorts, Crisil, Jubilant Life, Lupin and Rallis India are some of top bets of the Big Bull in terms of value. All these stocks have rebounded from March lows and helped the portfolio regain strength. All these stocks are trading in the positive now for Calendar 2020.

The seasoned investor's aggregate holdings in these six stocks exceeds Rs 10,000 crore in value as of today.

Heavyweight performers
Escorts has rallied 121 per cent to Rs 1,394 apiece from Rs 629 as on December 31, 2019. Jhunjhunwala held 1,054 crore shares in the company as of September 30, as per publicly available data with Trendlyne.

Amid the sharp rise, the Big Bull cut his stake in the Haryana-based tractor maker to 5.64 per cent by the end of September quarter from 7.73 per cent at the end of December quarter.

Data showed Rallis India, another Jhunjhunwala favourite, has delivered 65 per cent return so far this year. His 10.31 per cent stake in the firm is worth Rs 557 crore today.

The Big Bull of Dalal Street earned 32 per cent return on the Jubilant Life Sciences stock, which has risen to Rs 709 from Rs 536 as of December 31. Jhunjhunwala has raised his stake in the company for three consecutive quarters now to 5.74 per cent at the end of September quarter from 3.45 per cent at the end of December. He owns Rs 656 crore worth of shares in the company.

Jhunjhunwala's shareholding in Titan, his biggest bet, is worth Rs 6,504 crore now. The scrip is up 10 per cent year to date.

The Big Bull and his better half, Rekha Jhunjhunwala, have been trimming their holdings in the Tata Group firm quarter after quarter. The duo cut their stake in the jewellery maker to 5.52 per cent by the end of the September quarter from 6.69 per cent at the end of December.

The Jhunjhunwala duo stayed put on Crisil for the past few quarters. Their 5.49 per cent holding in the company is worth Rs 789 crore today. Crisil shares are up 4 per cent year to date after rebounding 83 per cent from their 52-week low of Rs 1,083.

Lupin delivered 17 per cent return this year compared with a 7 per cent rise in the BSE Sensex. Jhunjhunwala's 1.53 per cent holding in the drug maker is worth Rs 624 crore today.

In an interview to ETNOW last month, Jhunjhunwala said India has the ability to be the 'pharma capital' of the world and there is a scope for P/E expansion and EPS growth for API and generic players. “The pharma rally was overdue and it would only get bigger from here on,” he said.

Meanwhile, the seasoned investor's recent stake purchase in Tata Motors is valued Rs 688 crore today. This stock is up 25 per cent in last three months.

Overall, Jhunjhunwala's equity portfolio is worth 14,147 crore today, which almost equals his June 2019 high of Rs 14,211 crore, Trendlyne data showed.

Asked what does he have to say to the newcomers to the market, Jhunjhunwala in a fireside chat at CMT 2020 India Virtual Summit last month said he would advise them to steer clear of trading to begin with, and have trust in the investment advice given by professionals.

“Don’t trade. Mathematically, it is against you. If you want to trade, have a broad idea of direction. It is all about attitude. It is a full-time profession. Please give your money to professionals,” he said.