5 stocks and the making of the legend of Big Bull

Big Bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who entered the stock market in the mid-1980s with just ₹5,000, held shares worth ₹29,700 crore as of Friday, August 12. He invested in several stocks in his 37-year-long career in the stock market, but five stocks played a big role in boosting his wealth. These are Titan, Sesa Goa, Lupin, CRISIL, and Star Health. ET takes a look at how these stocks contributed to Jhunjhunwala's success.

Titan Company
Titan is said to be his favourite stock pick. He started acquiring the stock in 2002-03 when it was hovering around ₹3-4. He consistently increased the stake in the watch-to-jewellery maker, and even during the global recession in 2008, he just sold around 600,000 shares out of the 4.4 million shares he held. Later in 2012, he increased his stake to as high as 10.28%. Currently, Rakesh and Rekha Jhunjhunwala jointly hold a 5.05% stake worth ₹11,081 crore. Titan's market capitalisation has increased from ₹160 crore on January 1, 2002, to ₹2.19 lakh crore.

Lupin
Lupin is the other favourite stock pick of Jhunjhunwala that made him some big money. He started buying Lupin shares in 2003 when the market cap was around ₹500 crore. In June 2008, he held a 4.29% stake in Lupin valued at ₹154 crore. Jhunjhunwala reduced the stake gradually and exited the company fully in September last year when the market capitalisation was around ₹44,000 crore.

Sesa Goa (Now Vedanta)
Sesa Goa was one of Jhunjhunwala's early large bets that boosted his fortunes. Jhunjhunwala bought 400,000 shares of Sesa Goa in 1989 for around ₹1 crore when the iron ore industry was in bad shape, and the stock was trading at ₹25. He sold these shares in three tranches - the first 250,000 at ₹65, another lot at ₹175, and the last lot at ₹2,200.

CRISIL
Jhunjhunwala started buying CRISIL shares in 2003. After buying 10,000 shares initially, he later increased his holding to 5.5 million shares as of September 2006. The stock was accumulated between ₹400 and ₹500. In 2013, Rekha Jhunjhunwala offloaded 400,000 shares for over ₹46 crore. Currently, they own a 5.48% stake in the rating agency worth ₹1,322 crore.

Star Health And Allied Insurance
Jhunjhunwala made a killing with his investment in Star Health. Rakesh and Rekha together own a 17.26% stake worth ₹6,980 crore and their holdings form a part of the promoter group. Jhunjhunwala bought the insurer's shares between March 2019 and November 2021, before the company's initial public offering , in nine transactions at an average price of ₹155.28 a share and his total investment in the company was about ₹1,287 crore. The public issue , launched in November 2021, priced the shares at around ₹900. Despite the poor debut at the bourses, Jhunjhunwala still made huge returns.