Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani is an Indian billionaire businessman and investor, ^[7] He is the founder and chairman of retail chain Avenue Supermarts Limited. ^[8] Damani is often referred to as the Retail King of India. ^{[9] [10]}

His estimated net worth is US$18.3 billion as of January 2024, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and $17 billion according to  Forbes. ^{[11] [12]}

Early life and career

Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani ^[13] was raised in a Maheshwari Marwari Hindu family in a single room apartment in Mumbai. He studied commerce at the University of Mumbai but dropped out after one year. After the death of his father who worked on Dalal Street, Damani left his ball bearing business and became a stock market broker and investor. ^{[14] [15] [16]} He made profits by short-selling stocks in the 1990s. ^[17] Damani was reportedly the largest individual shareholder of HDFC Bank after it went public in 1995. ^[18] In the year 1992, after the Harshad Mehta Scam came to the limelight, he saw a major rise in his income due to the short-selling profits during the time. In 1999, he operated a franchise of Apna Bazaar, a cooperative department store, in Nerul, but was "unconvinced" by its business model. ^{[19] [20]} He quit stock market in 2000 to start his own hypermarket chain, DMart, setting up 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. ^{[18] [21] [22]}

In 2020, he became the fourth-richest Indian with a net worth of $16.5 billion. He was ranked #117 on the global list of billionaires. ^{[23] [24]} He was ranked #87 on the global list ( Forbes) of billionaires 2022 with a net worth of $18.9 billion. ^[25]

Investments

Damani also holds stakes in a range of companies, from tobacco firms VST industries to cement producers India Cements. Damani picked up a 1% stake in Andhra Paper. ^[26] Damani also picked up 15% stake in India Cements in May 2020 taking his investment in India Cements to 19.89%. ^[27] Damani publicly holds 14 stocks in his investment portfolio and total value of his stock portfolio is approx ₹178,572.4 crore (US$22 billion) in 2023. ^[28]

Personal life

He is married and has three children. ^[24]

References