The Hindu Business Line : ‘Financial markets are real terrorists’

Mumbai, Sept. 21 Surrounded by books and periodicals at his Worli apartment bedroom, Chandrakant Sampat hardly looks like one of the most successful investors in the country. But they don’t call him “The Warren Buffett of India” for nothing. Starting from scratch after quitting his family business in 1955, he has been investing in equity for more than four decades, carefully picking stocks of companies like HUL and Nestle.

He has built a massive fortune and now has just 30 per cent of his money in equities. “There was a time when I was 70 per cent into the (equities) market,” he says, shaking his head. “Times have changed.” Of late, the veteran has turned bearish and has put most of his money into cash and cash equivalents.

How have the times changed? Globalisation makes the difference, he says. The mid-fifties, when he started investing, was the ideal situation; the capital market was ruled by one entity, the Controller of Capital Issues. “He decided what price the company should go public; if a foreign company wanted to be operational in our country, they had to share their equity with the public. And there were no merchant bankers. Investing was very simple then,” he reminisces.

minimal living

Chandrakant Sampat defies the archetypical image of the really well heeled. He shares the spartan apartment opposite Mahalaxmi Temple, near Haji Ali, with his wife; his daughter is away in America. He takes a BEST bus everyday to his Nariman Point office and is a fitness freak. If you are around Marine Drive sometime mid-afternoon, you can spot an eighty-going-on-sixty-year-old jogging! He also pumps iron, does a bit of yoga and then continues his favourite pastime … reading.

And, he follows a very simple diet. “I have not eaten sugar, fatty foods or salts in the last 50 years! I just have my salads, bananas and sprouts”. But being a Gujarati, doesn’t he miss the good ol’ Gujju food? “I pity those who have to eat that everyday!” he chuckles.

For a man who has been active in capital markets for more than half a century, Chandrakant Sampat seems to hate them now. “When Tony Blair stepped down as the Prime Minister, he remarked that if asked ten years back who were the real terrorists, he would say the Irish. But now he’d say Al-Qaeda. If you had asked me a while back I would have said Al-Qaeda too; but now, I would say the real terrorists are the financial markets”. Authority without responsibility equals terrorism, he asserts.

Golden rules

What are Chandrakant “guru” Sampat’s secret to good investing? Pat comes the answer: Invest in a business you understand, the company should have either zero or very little debt, the share should be available at a P/E ratio of 13 to 14 times the current year’s earnings and lastly, it should be available between 3.5 and four per cent yield. “It is that simple!” he says. This is all he does, he says, no more research. Follow these golden rules, and you can be as good as him, he concludes.

More Stories on : People | Stock Markets | Investments

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
VW to bring motor sport to India in 2010

‘Financial markets are real terrorists’