Jhunjhunwala's portfolio sees little change in Q4

Jhunjhunwala has increased his holding in Agro Tech Foods from 7.04% as on March 31 from 4.72% in the December quarter

Shares of some companies in which billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala holds a stake rose today, amid speculation that he was selectively increasing his holdings in some of these. Autoline Industries was locked in the maximum permissible upper trading limit of 20 per cent, VIP Industries jumped 16 per cent, while Bilcare, NCC and Delta Corp rose almost five per cent each.

Such talk assumes significance because a theory doing the rounds is that Jhunjhunwala had incurred losses in some of his trading bets between January and March. This resulted in many in the market speculating that he was cutting stakes in many of his holdings to make up for the losses. Jhunjhunwala could not be reached for comments.

The shareholding pattern of companies (which have declared holdings so far), in which Jhunjhunwala and his wife, Rekha, were shareholders as on March 31, does not show he was trimming his portfolio in a big way during the period. According to data compiled by Business Standard, both of them retained their holdings in most of the stocks even as they increased their stake in a handful. They trimmed part of their holdings in stocks such as Titan Industries and Alphageo. (JHUNJHUNWALA’S EMPIRE)

Jhunjhunwala had increased his holding in Agro Tech Foods to 7.04 per cent as on March 31 from 4.72 per cent in the December quarter.

A study of his holdings show most stocks in his portfolio fell during the January-March period by an average 28 per cent compared to 13 per cent decline in the mid-cap index and a 21 per cent drop in the small-cap index.

Jhunjhunwala, who is often referred to as India’s Warren Buffett, has a following on Dalal Street who swear by his investment and trading skills. At the same time, he has been rapped by a bunch of staunch critics, who had written him off amid the sharp decline in equities this year. Then, the market was abuzz with speculation that the investor lost heavily in some of his derivative bets and that he was forced to trim some of his long-term holdings to make up for the margin payment. A sharp decline in mid- and small-cap shares during the period also contributed to the chatter.

However, oldtimers and supporters say it is folly on the part of the critics to write off Jhunjhunwala, who, according to them, had seen far more testing times in the 1990s.