New Delhi. It is said that those people earn money in the stock market who are patient, who understand compounding and who place their bets wisely. Ramesh Damani, Ramdev Aggarwal and Sunil Mahtani have earned a lot of money from the market and their names come among the veteran and ‘savvy’ investors. You will be surprised to know that even these ‘smart investors’ sometimes make such mistakes due to which they are deprived of good income. On the occasion of the launch of Motilal Oswal Wealth Creation Study, these three tycoons revealed that they also made some big mistakes and missed out on making such bets which could have made them a lot of money in the future.
Ramesh Damani, considered a master of value investing, said that he missed investing money in Bajaj Finance in time. He said that he had an idea of the strength of the company. He was also extremely impressed by the company’s reputation, management and business model. But, he could not invest in Bajaj Finance initially. Damani said, “I missed it. It was exceptionally stupid of me.” Damani said that the regret of missing a big opportunity keeps troubling the investor for a long time.
Missed opportunity in Apollo Hospital also
Referring to another mistake of his, Damani said that he bought the shares of Apollo Hospitals in 1993 at just ₹ 20. The stock increased 100 times in the coming 25 years, but in the temporary downturn during COVID, he sold it at ₹2,000. Damani said that he sold this share not because he saw any weakness in the company, but because he felt that he has now earned a lot from this share. Damani said, “If you want to be like Warren Buffett, you cannot make such mistakes. These are not mistakes, but crimes.”
Mahtani got a lifelong lesson from a mistake
Sunil Mahtani, owner of American investment firm Kingfisher Investors, also told about one such mistake of his, which taught him the lesson of his life. Mahtani told that in 2001, Steve Jobs returned to Apple and launched iPod. Mahtani then felt that Apple was no longer just a technology company but was moving towards becoming a consumer brand. He invested in Apple. But, when Apple’s stock doubled, it was sold. Mahtani said that he sold the shares thinking that he would get a chance to buy them at a cheaper price. But, they were wrong. “This missed opportunity is one of my most painful lessons,” Mahtani said.
Mahtani told that his biggest ‘missed opportunities’ is also HDFC. When he came to India in 1989, he read the balance sheet of HDFC and was shocked. Shares at ₹190, earnings of ₹65 per share, ₹18 dividend and approximately 10% return. With 25% CAGR and 25% ROE. Mahtani said that he understood that the company would give huge profits in the future. But, the problem was that he did not have money to invest in India. He asked his father to buy it, but he did not invest. After a year, he again asked his father to invest money in HDFC, but he was still not ready. Mahtani says that instead of buying a plane ticket at that time, I should have invested the same money in HDFC shares.
Ramdev Aggarwal has also missed his chance
Motilal Oswal co-founder Ramdev Agarwal also talked about his ‘missed opportunities’. Aggarwal said that he had bought HDFC Bank shares in 1995 at ₹40. He believed that private banks would defeat PSU banks. Seeing the huge building of HSBC in Hong Kong, it seemed that our HSBC would be HDFC Bank. But then negative news came about a partner bank and they panicked and sold at ₹52.50. After that HDFC Bank never came back to that level. Aggarwal said, “The lesson was clear, stick to your convictions.”
