Radhakishan Damani – Founder of Avenue Supermarts Limited/DMart

Radhakishan Damani – Founder of Avenue Supermarts Limited/DMart

Radhakishan Damani is an Indian billionaire businessman and investor. He is the founder of DMart, one of India’s largest retail chains that operates a chain of hypermarkets and supermarkets. He is known for his low profile and his successful investments in several blue-chip companies listed on the Indian stock exchanges. Damani is considered one of the wealthiest individuals in India and is well-regarded for his philanthropic activities. Despite his wealth and success, he has managed to maintain a private lifestyle and shies away from the public eye. He is considered a savvy and disciplined investor who has generated significant wealth through his investment strategies. 

Early life 

Radhakishan Damani was born into a Marwari family on July 12, 1955, in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. He resided in a one-room apartment in Mumbai in his early years. Radhakishan did his commerce at the University of Mumbai but did not complete his degree and dropped out just after a year. After the death of his father, who worked on Dalal Street, Damani left his ball-bearing business and became a stockbroker and investor. 

 Career 

 When his journey began as an investor and stock market broker, Radhakishan Damani made huge profits through unreasonably high stock short-selling during this period due to illegal means used by Harshad Mehta in the 1990s.  

When the Harshad Mehta scam was revealed in 1992, Damani saw his income increase dramatically, all because of the profits from short selling. In 1995, it became public that the investor was the largest individual shareholder of HDFC Bank. From that moment on, his journey takes a huge turn.  

Apna Bazaar was a franchise operated by Radhakishan Damani in 1999. The franchise was actually a department store in Nerul. However, his business model did not satisfy Damani’s intelligent mind.  

He left the stock market in 2000 to launch his own hypermarket chain, DMart, and opened the first store in Powai in 2002. The chain had 25 stores in 2010, after which the company grew rapidly and went public in 2017. 

 Philanthropist 

 Radhakishan Damani donates Rs 155 crore to the government to fight coronavirus. From him, Maharashtra and Gujarat received 10 crores of rupees each; Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Punjab received Rs 5 crores each out of the total of Rs 55 crores donated to state government relief funds.  

 Radhakishan Damani’s Path to Success 

 Radhakishan Damani used tactics unique to Indian retail. At the starting, he deliberately chose to complement research, and for the most part, he owns his own stores for DMart, which is why Damani has never closed a store since DMart’s launch. He remained focused on DMart’s core business, food and basic groceries.  

Other retail chains were accelerating their development, while he only had DMart stores in four states for the first 15 years. Unlike many of his rivals, Damani doesn’t believe in aggressive marketing. He maintains a marketing mix in which DMart’s USP is selling items at a price below the maximum retail price (MRP). This is the most crucial element in keeping the organisation ahead of the competition.   

The DMart company now has 306 stores across 14 states in India. And Radhakishan Damani takes the 5th mark on the record of the richest billionaire in India. 

 Networth 

 Radhakishan Damani’s achievements have made him extremely wealthy. According to the most recent corporate shareholdings disclosure, he has a net worth of approximately 1,550 crores USD. 

 Interesting Facts about Radhakishan Damani 

• During his first year of college, Radhakishan Damani left his studies to launch a ball bearing company. He was forced to shut down his company in the aftermath of his father’s death and work with his brother as a stockbroker. 
• During his early years on Dalal Street, he learned Manu Manek’s stock short selling strategies, which he later used to short sell Big Bull’s overvalued shares, Harshad Mehta. 
• In the 1980s, he was not very popular; stockbrokers called him “GS,” as it was written on his entry badge. 
• Due to his extreme reserve and shyness, Radhakishan Damani rarely gives interviews to the media and avoids attending events involving the market. 
• Due to his preference for wearing only white shirts and white pants, he has earned the nickname “Mr. White and White” from his close friends. He claims that doing this allows him to save time every morning. 
• In an interview, Radhakishan stated that veteran investor Chandrakant Sampat, who made a name for his value investments in the 1980s and 1990s, served as an inspiration to him. 

 Achievements 

• Forbes estimates that he is the third India’s Richest person with a net worth of $27.6B billion in 2022. 
• Radhakishan Damani is a famous Indian businessman who is known as “the Retail King of India.”