Not even a week after he launched his low-cost airline Akasa, India’s top-notch stock broker and investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is dead. He was only 62. Breach Candy hospital CEO N V Santhanam confirmed to Vibes of India that Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was brought dead to the hospital at 6.45 am. He leaves behind his wife Rekha and three children. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was wheelchair-bound following severe diabetes and related complications.
More details about his sudden death are yet to come in but his death has been confirmed by his family in Mumbai.
Rakesh, known for his wit, amazing investment sense and bullish risk appetite was a quintessential fun-loving Rajasthani and belonged to Jhunjhunu village in Rajasthan. However, he was born and raised in Mumbai where his father was an income tax commissioner. Rakesh did his Bcom from the famous Sydenham College and then became a chartered accountant. At the time of his death, his consolidated income was estimated to be over $5.9 billion. He was the 36th richest man in India.
Just on August 7, Rakesh Juhunjhunwala launched his low-cost airline, Akasa Air with an inaugural flight from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. Folklore had it that his income tax commissioner dad never gave him money but Rakesh, born on July 5, 1960, was always attracted to the stock market. Rakesh started investing when he was in college. As he recounted once, he started with a capital investment of Rs 5000 in 1985 which as per July 2022 estimates had cumulated to over Rs. 48,000 crores. In fact, on Friday, Rakesh added Rs 221 crore on a single day as Metro footwear stocks, held by him, hit a 52-week high. The stocks were in the name of his wife Rekha.
Besides being an active investor Jhunjhunwala was also the chairman of Aptech Limited and Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and sat on the board of directors of Prime Focus Limited, Geojit Financial Services, Bilcare Limited, Praj Industries Limited, Provogue India Limited, Concord Biotech Limited, Innovasynth Technologies (I) Limited, Mid Day Multimedia Limited, Nagarjuna Construction Company Limited, Viceroy Hotels Limited, and Tops Security Limited. He is popularly referred to as the “Big Bull of India” and the “King of Bull Market”, and is widely known for his stock market predictions and bullish outlooks. Rakesh Jhunjhunwalal’s biggest investment was in Titan Company which was over Rs ₹7,294.8 crores.
On August 7, he launched Akasa Air along with former Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dubey at an estimated cost of Rs 247 crores. The airline currently has 2 aircraft with an additional order for 70 more aircraft and flew to 3 cities. Rakesh had over 40 per cent stake in his name in the airline.
as of 9th Aug 2022.
His 13-storey house spread across 70,000 sware feet area was being constructed in a dilapidated building that he purchased from Standard Chartered and HSBC bank. The building houses over 12 flats. He bought the building at over Rs 371 crores in 2021. Even as he has a loyal following of youngsters and stock brokers who worshipped him, there was a section that pointed out his wrongdoings on a regular basis.
There also was an investigation against Rakesh for insider trading as of 28 January 2020. However by July 2021, SEBI “settled” the issue after a total payment of ₹35 crores from Jhunjhunwala and his associates. Jhunjhunwala paid ₹18 crores and his wife paid ₹3.2 crores.
