"He's always been the eternal bull." From his controversial image to his larger than life personality, journalist Aabha Bakaya got candid about the Big Bull.
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00:00This larger-than-life character who was known to be foul-mouthed,
00:05you know, spitting tobacco, and, you know, never knew what to expect from him.
00:10I mean, the markets will never forget a Rakesh Ranjanwala.
00:18I met Rakesh Ranjanwala back in 2009. I had moved to Mumbai and I went to
00:27interview him for a Diwali show. And I had been told by all my colleagues,
00:32you know, with great trepidation of what to expect from this larger-than-life character
00:37who was known to be foul-mouthed, you know, spitting tobacco,
00:42and, you know, never knew what to expect from him.
00:49He's always been the eternal bull. He was actually confident that we're at the cusp
00:54of an all-together, what he called, a super bull run. Not just a bull run,
00:59he said the bull run of bull runs is coming in the next decade.
01:03So that's Rakesh Ranjanwala for you. His expression, you know, once he goes into the zone
01:07where he's, you know, doing his work and it's all about the markets and tracking those stocks,
01:13it completely changes. So you catch him in a moment and he'll wax eloquent to you.
01:17But after that, you know, the switch goes off and it's like, don't disturb him.
01:21That's how he was. He is likened to the, you know, to be India's Warren Buffet,
01:26you know, someone of that stature in terms of what he's built.
01:33The last few years, I also got a chance to see him in an environment, you know,
01:38with his family and loved ones. And I know that he was a really big figure,
01:42you know, in their lives. And he really, for him, they were always the utmost priority.
01:51The twins were important because Rakesh and Rekha tried for many years. And so, you know,
02:15he considered that a lucky blessing. And it was something that came to him much later in life.
02:21And that's why the twins are very, very important to him.
02:27We do refer to him as RJ. We always called him that. Even if I would
02:30message him, I would sometimes say sir, but otherwise I'd say RJ.
02:35You know, it was probably just very in the early days that I attempted Mr. Jhunjhunwala.
02:43And he always used to say, le fatafat, de fatafat, you know, he was very adept at trading,
02:50but he also was an investor in some companies when they were first starting out. And,
02:55and he really, you know, sort of was invested in their longer term journey
03:00and built a lot of wealth through that as well. In fact, he's known for coming to the stock
03:05markets with 5000 rupees. And it was that bet in Tata Tea that actually catapulted him into
03:12the big league back in the day. And he was known for always being able to pick those stocks. Of
03:17course, he went wrong sometimes as well as anybody would. He was really confident about
03:22the India story. And in that respect, the fact that banks and PSU banks would be a critical
03:29part of that. He had his succession all planned out, which is why you've seen the markets
03:33completely on even keel even after his passing. He's known for his quips, right, for his witty
03:42one liners, and a lot of them are about women and markets. And, and so a few people did come
03:48up to me afterwards saying that, oh, my God, you know, how did you deal with this? It's so sexist,
03:52but I don't think he ever meant it in that capacity. He actually was just being funny.
04:05Two things that are unpredictable in life, markets and women. If you wanted to take offence,
04:09you could. But if you knew him, you knew that that was in jest, and he would never have meant
04:15any disrespect. In the entire time that I've known him, he's never been one to be politically biased.
04:26But I think he was, you know, he did laud this government's efforts. And I guess that was his
04:37political views. He did feel that this government was doing something right. And I think that,
04:46you know, we got to also understand that Rakesh Anjumwala wasn't just anybody, right? He is
04:51somebody with considerable influence. And I think that it was a little, I mean, in my personal
04:58opinion, I think it was a little unfair to have judged him for this when he is somebody who
05:05is entitled to have to be meeting the powers that be given the considerable
05:11influence that he has on India's stock markets, the kind of wealth he's generated for the country,
05:17the fact that he's one of the topmost taxpayers, as he, you know, very clearly told me in one of
05:24our recent conversations. Yeah, so I think we need to just see it in perspective. A regular man
05:30who went out there and really built an empire with nothing. Here's somebody who really literally
05:36went out there with a loan of like 5000 rupees, okay, and left with $5 billion.
05:41The markets will never forget Rakesh Anjumwala.