Radhakishan Damani Snapshot

• Offering competitive prices through bulk purchasing and efficient supply chain management.
• Targeting middle-income customers and their everyday needs.
• Maintaining a low-debt, high-cash-flow operational model.

He has revolutionised the retail industry in India with DMart, inspired countless investors with his disciplined approach to stock market investments, and set an example of how simplicity and focus can lead to monumental success.

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Radhakishan Damani is the founder of Avenue Supermarts Ltd., which owns the popular D-Mart retail chain. He is also one of India’s most respected value investors, known for his disciplined, long-term investing approach.

He built his fortune through two main paths:

• Stock Market Investments – following a value investing strategy inspired by Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, and his mentor Chandrakant Sampat.
• Entrepreneurship – by founding D-Mart in 2002 and scaling it into one of India’s most profitable retail chains.

His main ownership is in Avenue Supermarts Ltd. (D-Mart), where he holds about 61.28% stake (directly and via family trusts). He also owns investment companies like Bright Star Investments Ltd.

​As of 2025, D-Mart operates over 350 stores across India, with expansion focused on cluster-based growth in metro and tier-2 cities.​​

Apart from Avenue Supermarts, his portfolio includes stakes in:

• India Cements
• VST Industries
• Trent Ltd. (Tata Group’s retail arm)
• United Breweries, Sundaram Finance, BF Utilities (past holdings)

He follows value investing principles:

• Buying undervalued companies with strong fundamentals.
• Ensuring a margin of safety before investing.
• Holding stocks for decades, ignoring short-term noise.
• Focusing on simple, old-economy businesses with steady cash flows.

He was born in Bikaner, Rajasthan, in a Marwari family around 1954 (year not publicly confirmed).

He rarely gives interviews, avoids public appearances, and does not flaunt his wealth. His simplicity and reclusive nature add to his aura in the financial world.

During the 1990s, Damani reportedly took short positions against Harshad Mehta’s bullish trades, which earned him a reputation as a shrewd and fearless trader.

D-Mart Ready is the online grocery arm of Avenue Supermarts, launched to tap India’s e-commerce market. It currently operates in select cities and is gradually scaling up.

D-Mart plans to:

• Expand store count methodically across new regions.
• Strengthen D-Mart Ready for online grocery delivery.
• Maintain its low-cost culture to compete against JioMart, Flipkart Grocery, and Amazon Fresh.

His legacy lies in being both a visionary investor and a retail pioneer. He proved that patience, cost discipline, and customer-centric strategies can build a multi-billion-dollar empire without debt or foreign capital.

As of 2025, Radhakishan Damani’s estimated net worth is around $20.5 billion USD (over ₹1.70 lakh crore), making him one of the top 15 richest Indians.

Radhakishan Damani quit the stock market in 2000 to start DMart, a hypermarket chain. The company grew rapidly, went public in 2017, and made him the fourth-richest Indian with a net worth of $16.5 billion in 2020.

Radhakishan Damani and his brother Gopikishan Damani purchased a ₹1001 crore property in Mumbai, one of the most expensive real estate deals in India, paying a significant stamp duty for the transaction.

No, DMart is owned by Radhakishan Damani's Avenue Supermarts Limited (ASL), not by Adani.

D-Mart follows an Everyday Low Price (EDLP) strategy by:

• Owning or taking long-term leases on stores to cut rental costs.
• Stocking fewer brands but higher volumes to negotiate better prices.
• Running lean operations with minimal advertising.
  This model allows D-Mart to consistently offer products 5–10% cheaper than competitors.

Damani owns a ₹1,001 crore bungalow in Malabar Hill and 28 luxury apartments in Mumbai worth ₹1,238 crore.