Authored by Neil Borate, Aprajita Sharma, and Aditya Kondawar, ‘The Big Bull of Dalal Street: How Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Made His Fortune’ chronicles the life of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, from his humble beginning to becoming an astute investor and market expert. From kickstarting his stock market journey by taking loans from acquaintances and his brother’s clients to becoming the ‘Big Bull’ of India, Jhunjhunwala came a long way in establishing his name as a legend of the investing world and one of the popular market voices in the country.

The book lucidly explains stock market terminologies and is very helpful for even readers who may not be well-versed in investment and financial terms. The book achieves to draw from Jhunjhunwala’s personal and professional journey, to build a wholesome portrait of his life and work. Using a case study approach and reflecting on specific episodes from his life, the book talks about what one should and should not learn from the man. The authors have analysed Jhunjhunwala’s investments and his thought process by going through his interviews and publicly available information to understand his process, his wins, and his losses.

The book starts off with the portrait of a doting family man brought up with traditional values. He was also one with an open mind and was more than willing to share his investment ideas and strategies with his friends and family. The book then goes on to track his journey of evolving into a mature investor and how he honed his skills over the years. Using intuition, research, and having a discerning eye to spot investment opportunities early on is what made him stand out. He also had immense conviction in his long-term stock ideas and would back them even during phases of sub-optimal returns.

The most interesting aspect of the book is the account of Jhunjhunwala’s actual investment picks, which not only showcases how his thought process played out but also brings realism to the portraiture by mentioning the bets that didn’t go his way. The biggest lessons lie in our mistakes, and it is insightful to read about some of those from his investment track record.

Jhunjhunwala believed in the India story and was optimistic about its potential – something that gave him the title of ‘the Big Bull of India’. But belief aside, he had a well-defined investment approach that he followed to take his calls. It is educational to read about this approach of his. Tracing his journey, his hits, and misses, and drawing from the pearls of wisdom that he has shared over the years, the book offers some useful investment best practices for investors to consider – such as the benefits of long-term investing, the pitfalls of leveraged trades, dos and don’ts of stock market investing, diversification of asset classes, among others.

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