The other D of D-Mart and the cloak of reclusiveness

Damodar Mall talks about early days in Navi Mumbai, when first store started in 1999

The Initial Public Offer (IPO) prospectus of Avenue Supermarkets, parent of the D-Mart retail chain, does not mention his name. But, when the D-Mart brand was a toddler, it had not one but two Ds holding its hands. One was Radhakishan Damani, ace stock market investor and promoter of Avenue, along with a host of family members and group entities.

However, back in the 1990s, he was not a high priest of organised retailing. That was where the other D came in. Damodar Mall, then in his 30s, had an ideal career. With an IIT/IIM education and a Hindustan Unilever job,