On the fourth anniversary of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's death, the investment philosophy of the man known as India's “Big Bull” continues to offer valuable lessons for investors. From patience and discipline to respecting market dynamics, learning from mistakes, and avoiding unreasonable valuations, these principles remain relevant for navigating equity markets. At a time when large shareholdings in Indian companies were dominated by institutions, his emergence as one of the country's biggest individual investors made his publicly disclosed portfolio a reference point that retail investors tracked closely for years.

Jhunjhunwala, a chartered accountant by training and the son of an income tax officer, began investing in 1985 with Rs 5,000 and went on to build one of the largest individually held portfolios in Indian equities through his asset management firm, RARE Enterprises. Often described as India's Warren Buffett, he was also a prominent early backer of the airline Akasa Air, which began commercial operations in August 2022, days before his death. An early bet on Tata Tea in the 1980s is widely credited as the trade that first multiplied his capital, while his roughly two-decade association with Titan Company became the best-known illustration of his buy-and-hold approach. He died on August 14, 2022, at the age of 62.

Five timeless lessons from the Big Bull — here are five lessons from the legendary investor which every individual should learn:

1. Invest for the long term — He maintained that meaningful wealth in equities is built over years, not weeks, and his record rested on holding quality businesses through market cycles rather than trading in and out of them.

2. Practical market approach — He combined fundamental research with close attention to how the market was actually behaving, insisting that investors respect price signals rather than cling to theoretical valuations.

3. Patience and discipline — Building and holding positions through volatility, he treated time in a business as a component of returns rather than an obstacle to them.

4. Learning from our mistakes — He spoke candidly about losing bets across nearly four decades of investing and described errors as part of the learning process in public markets.

5. Trust a strong management — Several of his best-known investments rested on his judgment about the people running the business, the same lens he applied when backing Akasa Air's founding team of veteran airline executives.

Four years on, his recorded interviews and public talks continue to circulate widely among Indian investors, and anniversaries like this one regularly revive discussion of how these five principles apply to current market conditions.

Source: Economic Times Markets