Kids' fashion takes big steps in e-sales - TOI

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/kids-fashion-takes-big-steps-in-e-sales/articleshow/58334082.cms

Kids' fashion takes big steps in e-sales

TNN | Apr 24, 2017, 06.03 AM IST

BENGALURU: As children are online from a very early age, fashion brands for children are increasingly turning to ecommerce platforms. And for the latter, kids' fashion has become one of the fastest growing categories within fashion.

When women fashion brand Chemistry launched a brand for girls aged between 7 and 15 two years ago, they launched exclusively on Amazon. It has since launched on other e-commerce platforms, including Myntra and Jabong.The brand, Chemistry Girls, wanted to reach a wider audience and test the market before setting up physical stores. Amazon India said the number of units of kids' fashion sold and the number of customers buying kids' fashion in the first quarter of 2017 were both twice that in the same period last year. Children are getting influenced by what they see online. They have access to the internet and they want newer styles.While the children in this age group might not all be online, their parents would all be in their 30-40 age bracket and more comfortable shopping online. So it made sense for us to launch online first. Also, there is no capital cost," said Sunil Jhangiani, owner of the Mumbai-based brand.The girls, he says, have a mind of their own, and they want to look hip and can convince their parents on what to buy for them online. Denims and T-shirts with cool graphics on them are particularly strong, he says.

"With 35% of our custom ers buying kids' fashion new to apparel purchases on Amazon, it is expanding the overall fashion business of the company ," Arun Sirdeshmukh, head of Amazon's fashion business, told TOI.

Flipkart says kids' fashion has been the highest growing segment in the fashion category in the past few years. Rishi Vasudev, head of Flipkart Fashion, said the space grew at more than twice the growth of the overall lifestyle segment for Flipkart last year and currently contributes close to 10% of apparel sales. "We have a lot of labels brands that are exclusively on Flipkart and are doing extremely well. Izod kids is exclusive with us. We have special lines of collection from Disney, Chemistry, 612 League and other character merchandise (Marvel, Avengers, Shiva, Jungle Book) which are only available on Flipkart," Vasudev said.

For kids' brand Mothercare, which has a significant presence offline, the online space now contributes to more than 10% of revenue."We have seen a 50% jump in online sales in 2016-17 and in a couple of years, online revenue should contribute to 20% of overall revenue," said Timmy Sarna, MD of DLF brands, which runs Mothercare.Mothercare sells on platforms like Amazon, Jabong, and has 95 stores across 20 cities.

Kids' wear brand Gini & Jony saw a 100% growth in online revenue in 2016-17. Online contributed 3.5% of revenue in 2015-16, this rose to 10% last fiscal. "Customers were very price conscious earlier. But now, the brand has become important for the customer, the price doesn't matter. If a pair of jeans was priced at Rs 2,000, they would hope to get it online for Rs 1,000. Now, the average ticket size is equal in both online and offline," said Prakash Lakhani, CMD of Gini & Jony.

Top 5 guru mantras from Raamdeo Agrawal to help investors' generate wealth

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Market valuation still at comfortable levels but the job of picking stock has become tougher, said Raamdeo Agrawal, Joint MD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services in an interview with CNBC-TV18. 

We bring to you his 5 guru mantras from the interview:  

Be choosy in what to buy

Stock picking was easy sometime back but after the recent rally finding stocks at the right prices has become tougher. When the Nifty was trading at 7,000-8,000 levels, the job of picking stocks was easier, said Agrawal. Now, investors have to be more careful in what to buy at what price. 

Most of the investors now know what to buy but that may not be available at your price. Finding good things at a reasonable price is the biggest challenge in this market which makes the job even tougher, he said. Finding big idea has become difficult. 

Construction boom is coming, timing is key

Raamdeo said he is not into real estate stocks right now but trend seekers should always be on a lookout for sectors which could outperform. For example, the construction boom is imminent, but timing remains a key. Underlying stocks can surge very quickly whenever that happens. If investors pick stocks from depression stage, the returns are usually exotic. 

Don't be carried away with averages

The market might be trading at 22x, but there is hardly any company which might be trading at a P/E of 22x. Averages have one fundamental quality that the distribution of the population is presumed that 50 percent on one side while the rest on the other side (normal distribution). 

In a stock market, when you are saying that it has done 18 percent where 4000 companies are listed, it is assumed that 2000 companies would have done below 18 percent while the rest 2000 companies would have done above 18 percent. But, the world is not so simple. 

Markets are skewed which means that 10 percent would do 80 percent of market performance and the rest 20 percent will share the rest. Out of 4000 companies, only 400 companies would contribute about 70-80 percent to the market cap growth and the rest will share the average. While operating in the market, don't be carried away with averages, explains Agrawal.

Select winning companies: 

Agrawal emphasised on the fact that investors should not be concerned about companies which are not in their portfolio. Instead, they should handpick, let's say, 20 companies which can be called as winning stocks. 

To explain the concept from the book he just read, he took the example of Dow Jones Industrial Average between the period of 1976-1982, Dow moved in a narrow range but Warren Buffett's portfolio grew by 6 times. 

It means that even if the market is down by 5-10 percent, it is the job of active manager's job to put money in those stocks which can grow irrespective of how markets perform, said Agrawal. 

Pick stocks for the long term: 

Agrawal said when we buy stocks we buy for the long haul. None of these companies (Avenue Supermart, RBL Bank) were created for 2-3 quarters and prices are not such that it can't grow, he said. 

If the valuations are high then prospective returns in the short term will go down in companies which are expensive. But, it will be attractive in long term such as 10-15 years, he said. 

Agrawal further added that we try and pick stocks with reasonable valuations so that out short term return is reasonable and is very attractive on a 3-5-10 year's basis. Hence, we buy stocks with 10-15 years horizon. 

Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview.

Anuj: I know next month you will be going to Berkshire AGM, so, good question to ask you -- are you comfortable with market valuations right now, especially with the fact that earnings have not caught up yet but are you comfortable?

A: I am always comfortable with the market. It is no issue. We have to only see in a change situation how do you play. When market were at say 7,000-8,000 job was easier. Now you have to be even more careful what you buy at what price because now most of the guys they know what to buy, what is good, but you want to buy is not available at your price. So, then you have to find something.

First thing you will find very few things which are good and which probably might be reasonably priced. So, finding good thing at reasonable price is the biggest challenge in this market. So, that makes the job even tougher and you have to be far more focused. We have done nothing for last six months, we are just doing whatever we had done and sitting on that, or buying more of that. So, finding some big idea and piling onto that, that has not happened. So, it is becoming difficult.

Latha: What is the 12 month trailing valuation of the market, the multiple of the market now, just to get us down to reality, are we at 22?

A: Must be about 22-23.

Latha: At this juncture, let me come to some of the sectors that people appear to be discovering, real estate.

A: I am not in that. People will find as I said, different spots where things are changing and those who are early trend seekers, some of the sectors will definitely turnaround. Maybe one of them will someday PSU banks, some day real estate, or even the metals, we saw last time steel came back very strongly, maybe someday cement has to be -- it is overdue that cement comes into limelight because without cement in the steel, construction boom has to start one day. Whether it is six months away, six years away, only time will tell. However, that boom has to happen.

So, underlying stocks can surge very quickly because when you buy from the depression, generally from very bad to bad is a very exotic journey. You saw yesterday, all the realty stocks, people hammered for months, years they kept hammering, yesterday the first flush was 10-25 percent, I think one stocks was 40 percent. So, those kind of fireworks do happen.

Sonia: Every time you come here you teach us something new in terms of market wisdom. I want to know have you read any recent books where you can sort of impart some wisdom in terms of market, anything new.

A: I am always reading. Every 15 days I finish a book. It is the books only from where you learn. I finished book called ˜Investing: The Last Liberal Art' by Robert Hagstrom. There he talked about the averages. What is the average? Say 22 or whatever. These are market averages, but if you go into that, there is hardly any company at 22 price-to-earnings (P/E). What happens is, one of the biggest myth in the market is that index has done at 15 percent for last 34 years.

Averages have one fundamental quality that the distribution of the population of which you are taking out average, it is presumed that 50 percent is on this side and 50 percent is on other side. So, stock market when you are saying it has done 18 percent, and 4,000 companies are listed, generally it is assumed that 2,000 companies would have done below 18 percent and 2,000 companies would have done above 18 percent. However, the world is not so simple.

Always markets are right skewed, it is skewed market, so what happens is, very few companies, 10 percent will do 80 percent of the performance and 90 percent will share that 10-20 percent. So, what happens is that out of 4,000 companies, about 400 companies would contribute almost 70-80 percent of the market cap growth and 90 percent will share the average just for the sake of name.

Latha: Is that one of the wisdom of that book?

A: Yes, that is one of things I learned. There are a lot of things in that, but kind of I was aware in other places. What it means is that while operating the market, don't be carried away by the averages. What he is saying is when you say market is up or market is down, he has given an example, between 1976 and 1982 market remained at 757 or 787 in Dow in US.

During that period Warren Buffett's money grew by six times. So, what it means is that market is down by 5-10 percent, that does not mean anything in the marketplace. Those 200-300 companies are growing continuously. It is the active manager's job to figure out whose winning companies and put one's money into them and make money.

Anuj: You have identified some of these companies in the past. Your own portfolio has done well. I just wanted to discuss, you have taken a big bet on Avenue Supermarts (D-Mart) and RBL Bank. D-Mart I think you got anchor allocation as well. That has done well now and is trading at phenomenal valuations. What do you do with these bets now?

A: That is the dilemma in the sense that what we have is very small portion of the fund and typically we like to be 5-6 percent of the fund. So, we have only 0.5-1 percent of the fund. So, we will wait for our time.

Anuj: On RBL Bank?

A: RBL is there. It is doing well.

Anuj: But its 5 times price to book doesn't concern you?

A: We have not bought it for six months, eight months and all. We are in there for long haul. None of the companies are created for two quarters or three quarters, and the prices are not such that from there they cannot grow. However, what happens is when your valuation is high, your prospective returns go down. Now, prospective returns in the companies which are expensive, their very near term return, one year, two year return is going to be very bad. However, 10-20 years return is going to be still reasonable.

So, what we are saying is that we will not start at very expensive valuation, we will start at reasonable valuation so that our short term return, prospective return in 12 months or 18 months is also reasonable and it is very attractive on a three year, five year or 10-year basis. So, we don't want to buy a stock which is in or out in six months or one year or two years. We fundamentally start with 10-20 years horizon.

Latha: Let me come back to the theme that the market is now very excited about. You spoke about this possible construction boom, maybe because of housing. How are you playing it, you told me you are not into real estate, is cement the way to go, housing finance companies?

A: Housing finance is one because all the houses have to be funded; now even rural housing has to be. I think there will be only few good housing finance companies but there will be so many cement companies, so many steel companies, so many contracting companies, so many house owners, what to buy? You can buy either the aggregates like paints, cement, or fittings, those things you can buy, air conditioners, fan makers, whatever goes in the house, bed makers.

Latha: Jalaj Ashwin Dani has left Asian Paints, you are not worried?

A: In these kind of corporates these kind of things keep happening. The whole promoting management team is now away and only professionals are managing. So, I think it will have not that much kind of an impact.

Sonia: You have never been very high on Reliance, I have not seen it in your funds for many years, but it is now as of today, it has overtaken TCS as the highest market cap company. Do you regret not buying it in the last six to eight months?

A: Not at all. I need to know my 20 companies, and that does not mean that only 20 companies will perform, there will be another 180 companies which will also perform. Today I can miss about Reliance, tomorrow I can be missing the Indiabulls, there are thousands of companies which are doing well and I don't have them.

So, I have to regret if my 20 companies don't perform. In fact it took me 35 years to focus your 20 companies, don't focus too much on the companies you don't have. So, it doesn't matter. The day on which we get confident about that stock, we can get in that stock any moment.

Latha: One more theme which everybody plays GST, the informal will become formal types. How are you playing that if at all?

A: Let it come, still three to four months away. There will be enough chaos and in that chaos we will try to find who is getting hurt. GST once rolled out, it is like a broken egg. You cannot roll it back and I am quite sure there will be difficulties and it is not going to be everything just day one and everything is perfect.

So, as it is rolled out, we will see because first time it is happening. So, where exactly is the impact; I am quite sure the good companies will become better and big companies will become bigger. That looks to be the theme and we are generally in all the leading companies in that respective sectors.

Anuj: The next big bet, AU Financers IPO in next one month. I think you hold it, you have been early investors of course, what is the big story here?

A: These is another banking company which will benefit out of the private licence and the PSU segment that is two thirds of the bank which is -- so value is migrating from PSU banks to private sector banks and among private sector banks you have all sorts of banks like HDFC, ICICI, Axis, RBL, Yes Bank and so this whole list is there.

This is a growing industry, so, now this is yet another new kid in the block who has got the licence and they will roll out. Till now they were regional NBFCs, now they will roll out as a bank and you have to see the progress of this management team, how well they can do.

Radhakishan Damani: His journey from Dalal Street punter, to long-term investor, to entrepreneur

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Radhakishan Damani: His journey from Dalal Street punter, to long-term investor, to entrepreneur

By Shailesh Menon, ET Bureau | Updated: Apr 18, 2017, 07.53 AM ISTPost a Comment

According to market sources, RD is greatly inspired by the legendary value investor Chandrakant Sampat, whom he had met in the early-90s.

MUMBAI: Manu Manek, the dreaded market operator, ruled Dalal Street in the 1980s. The cobra, as Manek was referred to by brokers who disliked him, would run riot pounding and shorting stocks at will. Not that Manek was a 'perpetual bear' by choice, but in a market devoid of low interest funding, shorting was probably the smartest winning strategy to adopt. 

Bullish traders, in those days, borrowed money at 20 - 30% interest rates to take position in the market. Large bullish bets would gore stocks to higher price-levels, creating winning positions for bulls. This is when the Cobra would strike. He would short the stock ruthlessly causing significant price erosion in a matter of few days. 

Bullish traders, who had borrowed money to bet big, would be plagued by calls from money lenders - either to replenish margins or exit the position completely. When loses mount, the bulls pull out cutting huge losses. Manek - the Cobra would walk away with all the gains he made on his short positions. 

Radhakishan Damani, then in his late-20s, would stand at the farther end of the raucous trading ring and watch the Cobra in action. It is evident that the young Damani (RD) learnt a lot watching crafty Manek spoiling the bulls' party time and again. A few years later, RD would employ similar tricks to outgun his bête noire - the big bull Harshad Mehta. 

On some days, Manek Bhansali (who later set up Enam Stock Broking with Nemish Shah) and Haresh Shanti (another trader) would join RD at the outer ring. 

"He merely stood there and watched; he rarely called out trades… he'd would just stand idle and understand the pulse of the market," reminisces Deena Mehta, who stepped into Bombay Stock Exchange's trading ring for the first time in 1985. 

Few from that era imagined that RD - always in a white shirt and white trousers - would emerge as one of India's most successful stock investors, seed-fund a retail chain and take it public at premium valuations 15 years later too be counted among India's top billionaires. 

Radhakishan Damani: His journey from Dalal Street punter, to long-term investor, to entrepreneur

The Damani family's holding in the recently-listed Avenue Supermarts is close to Rs 40,000 crore. It would be "safe and conservative" - as one market watcher puts it, to add another Rs 15,000 crore as the value of RD's other stock market investments. This is counting out a few more thousands of crores Damani would have made in his stock trading career spanning over 40 years. 

But nobody really knew RD in the 80s. A few people who knew him, called him 'GS', because his 'entry badge' (used to enter the trading ring) said so. 

THE TUMULTOUS 90s 

The late-80s and the early-90s were dark ages for Indian stock market - and more so for the exchange in Bombay. While not many would admit it publicly even today, the Bombay exchange was clearly divided - with Gujaratis on one side and Marwari traders holding fort on the other end. 

"They spared no opportunity to bleed one another … So when one group of traders bought, the other group went on an overdrive to spoil the trade," explains a retired investment manager of the old Unit Trust of India. 

Gujarati traders found their voice when Harshad Mehta emerged from the shadows to become the most powerful trader on D-Street in the late-80s. At around the same time, a nondescript group - locally called the 'triple-Rs' - cut some real smart deals on the street. 

The 'triple-R' group comprised Radhakishan Damani, a chartist named Raju and a young greenhorn, who later became a big name in Indian stock market. The 'triple-Rs' were also joined by a few more traders and brokers - some of whom are active even now. 

As fate would have it, the growing clout of 'triple-Rs' launched them into the orbit of Harshad Mehta, who had already begun surfing large waves by then. According to some old timers, the 'triple-Rs' unintentionally (or intentionally, one would never know) got caught in the Gujarati-Marwari one-upmanship game. They became the antidote that Marwaris were searching for against the big bull Mehta. 

"We were not influenced by world markets then… and people always played against each other. There was tension between Gujaratis and Marwari traders, but RD never took sides - at least openly," admits an operator who has known RD for over 30 years. "His friend Raju, the chartist, was a Gujarati," says the operator as an afterthought. 

According to old-timers, Harshad and the 'triple-Rs' first locked horns over Apollo Tyres. Harshad was long in the counter, but triple-Rs could not digest such high valuations for the tyre company. As was the practice of the day - and what they had learnt from the likes of Manu Manek - triple-Rs went on shorting the stock, without really knowing the source of Harshad's endless funding. 

Harshad went on shoveling in the money and triple-Rs continued to bleed every single day as the stock price surged. It came to a point when triple-Rs could not take the losses anymore. They exited the position cutting huge losses. Round one went to the big bull and his cronies. But this was just the beginning of a long war that spanned for nearly two years - until the scam was unearthed in 1992. 

Several years later, RD is believed to have told a few of his friends: "Agar Harshad saat din aur apni position hold kar leta, toh mujhe kathora leke road par utarna padta." (Had Harshad held his position for seven more days, I'd have taken a begging bowl and walked on the road). 

"Till 1992, RD was a punter like others of those times… He cleaned up after the Mehta scam. He turned a long-term investor after 1992," says a small-sized broker and a close acquaintance of RD. "Perhaps, he came too close to bankruptcy then. He was scared of losing money after that," the broker adds. 

The octogenarian investment manager of Unit Trust of India, who has seen most operators of the 80s and 90s in close quarters, has his own set of views. 

"Harshad was a fraudster; Damani and his friends rigged stocks to exit at a later date, leaving gullible investors in the lurch. Manek was more humane of the lot; he simply shorted the market with his own money," he opines. 

MERCY ME! 

The war between triple-Rs and Harshad Mehta, and the eventual downfall of the latter, had sucked in a lot of gullible investors into a whirlpool of losses. 

"A lot of innocent traders, who followed Mehta's investment advice, suffered huge losses… RD let go a lot of small investors who owed money to him. He allowed a lot of small investor to exit trapped positions by buying them out," says the head of an NBFC, which used to lend money to the triple-Rs in the 90s. 

Veteran broker Deena Mehta has also seen the benevolent side of RD in the aftermath of the Ketan Parekh Scam. RD had helped a few of Deena's clients exit trapped positions in BPL and Videocon shares. 

"When some of our clients got trapped in Videocon and BPL shares, RD helped us by taking over their positions... These scrips had become unsalable as there were no buyers in the market," Deena recollects. 

"RD is a very positive player in times of crisis… He's a shrewd investor; makes more money when he's bearish," she opines. 

For all his positives, RD is painfully reclusive and has lot of inhibitions when it comes to facing the spotlight. He does not give media interviews or attend market-related events. RD is rarely seen at social gatherings and he is even more restrained when it comes to funding charity projects or taking up social causes. 

When RD funded the construction of two guest houses of 'Maheshwari Pragati Mandal' in Mumbai, he requested mandal office-bearers to not disclose his name. 

For a habitual recluse, RD is extremely well-networked. He is in regular touch with some of the best names in Indian stock market. Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala considers RD as his guru while Ramesh Damani, Nemish Shah and Vallabh Bhansali are said to be his close friends. 

The country's top money managers were present at the listing ceremony of Avenue Supermarts - "mostly to oblige the big man who had extended personal invitations," snitches a junior fund manager whose boss had attended the event. 

ET gathered views from close to 30 marketmen who have known RD and his friends over the years. A good number of them spoke to us in strict confidence. Many of RD's closest friends refused to co-operate, while a few only had pleasant things to say. 

"RD is quite reserved… he's a simple man, not one bit proud of his achievements," says Dilip Bang of Nirmal Bang Securities. 

"He treats everybody equal; gives a lot of respect to people… He's cordial to even strangers who catch up with him during his evening walk on the Girgaum Chowpatty," Bang says. 

INVESTMENT STYLE 

According to market sources, RD is greatly inspired by the legendary value investor Chandrakant Sampat, whom he had met in the early-90s. 

For those who are not aware, Sampat started investing in stocks in the early-70s, practiced the art of value investing and made a fortune. He passed away in 2015. It was Sampat who tipped RD with Gillette India. 

"Sampat had only bought a few lakh worth of Gillette shares, but when RD heard about it, he packed a truck and went after it," says a broker who had close ties with Sampat. 

"Sampat never liked RD's trading mentality… but then he considered him as one of the best. He used to say: RD is one guy who can think long term and also spot quick short-term trades," the broker recalls. 

VST Industries, HDFC, Sundaram Finance, ITC, Gillette, Crisil, ICRA, 3M India, Blue Dart Express, Prozone Intu Properties, Uniply Industries and India Cements are said to be some Daman's best picks over the years. He is also known to have shares of MNCs such as Nestle, Colgate and HUL in his portfolio. 

RD had acquired almost 15% of VST shares in year-2000 at an average price of Rs 80 apiece; the stock is now trading at Rs 2985. Likewise, a few years ago, RD had advised a friend to buy Sundaram Finance at Rs 270 per share; the stock is now trading at Rs 1690-levels. Another big scalp of RD was HDFC Bank, which he started acquiring at Rs 400 crore market-cap levels. 

When somebody asked RD why he was buying HDFC, and not a big PSU bank like SBI, he's rumoured to have said: "Dharavi Dharavi hota hai, aur Pedder Road Pedder Road… aage jaake HDFC ka bhaav dekh lena." ( Dharavi is Dharavi and Pedder Road is Pedder Road… wait and see the value of HDFC Bank in future). The bank now commands a valuation of Rs 3.69 lakh crore on the bourses. "He keeps a core and trading portfolio… RD dabbles with F&O only in his trading portfolio. His holding time in core portfolio is usually 5 - 7 years," says a broker who has dealt for RD. 

RD is not much of a reader; he does stock research by himself - mostly by talking to a lot of people. "Market kya lag raha hai?" is the first question he'd ask any active market participant - big or small. RD, the good listener that he is, gauges market sentiment by talking to a lot of people. He doesn't share much or give his own opinion about stocks. 

When a flamboyant fund manager - now managing an offshore India fund from Singapore - asked RD about his views on market, RD shot back saying: "For me, price is god… price determines my view. So am bullish at market-open, bearish at noon trade and completely out of market towards market-close." 

"He gets the market-top right most of time… He may just be one or two days late or early in judging market-tops," says a broker and another close accomplice of RD. "He got the dotcom bust-up of 2000 and 2008 market crash quite right… but he failed to see the market recovery of 2009. He had expected the downfall to last a lot longer then," the broker says. 

RD was not very active in the market between 2001 and 2004 as he was busy setting up Avenue Supermarts in Mumbai and Gujarat. Several acquaintances have seen RD travelling in his Fiat Uno across Mumbai assessing good spots for his DMart stores. Some people say, RD used to work 12 - 14 hours every day of the week. 

"His entrepreneurial pursuits bloomed pretty late in life… But he built a sound business indeed," says an old broker, whom RD contacted every day of the week in the mid-90s to understand the stock preferences of foreign institutional investors (FIIs had begun investing in Indian shares only then). 

RD's Avenue Supermarts has expanded its retail network from one store in 2002 to 118 stores in 2017, across 10 Indian states. The uniqueness of Avenue Supermarts is that it owns most of its stores. This strategy enables the company to capture future price appreciation of real estate as well. Avenue Supermarts shares have gained 1.62 times since its listing in the third week of March, and are currently trading at Rs 784-levels. 

"The stock is clearly overpriced now… RD would have shorted the counter if this was not his company," says a prominent investor residing down south. "It's a case of price manipulation, I reckon… retail is a sunset business. Stores, as a retail business format, are closing down world-over. Even their premise that real estate (owned by Avenue) will go up is a misnomer. Real estate prices have not gone up since 2013," the investor adds. 

However BR Bagri, a Delhi-based broker, does not support this view. "Avenue Supermarts has a great business model and it will do well in the coming years." Bagri's father Babulal Bagri and RD's father Shivkishen Damani were business partners in the 60s and 70s. "We both hail from the same place in Bikaner… Bikaneris are very kind people; they're very sharp in business. 

A GREAT FRIEND 

Two years ago, RD is learnt to have offered shares of Avenue Supermarts to several of his friends at par value (at Rs 10 per share). If market grapevine is to be believed, his inner circle of friends received "gift deeds" (consisting shares) free of any charge. This, according to a broker, was RD's way to thank his friends for their help and support. 

RD considers Nemish Shah as his closest ally. So, when Shah applied for a large lot of Avenue Supermarts shares during the IPO, RD's joy knew no bounds. RD and Shah share great admiration for each other, but their investment preferences differ by a wide measure. 

Shah, who is known to be spiritually inclined, does not invest in liquor, tobacco, leather or meat processing companies. RD does not have such inhibitions. When an acquaintance asked RD why he invested in tamasic (evil, impure) businesses, RD replied: "When am on the trading table my job is to make money. My moral values come to the fore only when I decide how to spend the money I made." 

RD, now 61 years old, is a strict vegan and takes a holy river dip every kumbh season. Till about a few years ago, he used to walk down to a bunk shop near Industry House (Churchgate, Mumbai) to devour a paan after lunch. RD prefers to wear white and white as "it's one less decision to make every morning." 

The Harshad Mehta Scam was a watershed event in the lives of people who filled up the trading ring in the 80s and 90s. A good many moved on from being petty traders to value investors. A few turned religious. Greenhorns graduated to bigger leagues. Some, like RD himself, branched out to set up successful businesses. Only one thing remained constant - their love for money and their passion to make more of it every living day.