HOW DO YOU profile a billionaire who built an empire in full view of the market yet never once stepped into its spotlight? A man who’s never delivered a TED Talk, never graced a business television debate, and never publicly articulated his investing philosophy. Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani remains a figure as understated as he is powerful, such that even his peers speak of him with a kind of reverent curiosity.

On the very rare occasions I’ve had the chance to meet Damani, he was always unfailingly polite — courteous to a fault, offering a quiet promise of a conversation that never quite materialised. The polite messages, the occasional follow-up call for this Fortune India profile — were, as always, met with silence. With most people, such reticence might invite frustration; with Damani, it only deepens the enigma.

Damani built his wealth — ₹2,27,543 crore ($26.53 billion) as of June 30, 2025, according to the 2025 Fortune India-Waterfield Advisors study, and rank No. 7 on India’s Top 100 Billionaires list this year — with characteristic invisibility in a market that thrives on noise. So much so that on March 21, 2017, the day Avenue Supermarts, the company he founded, listed on the exchanges, it wasn’t Damani but another reticent legend, Nemish Shah, co-founder of Enam and the man behind the Pune-based Foundation for Liberal Arts and Management Education (FLAME), who took to the stage. “It’s a memorable day for me and refreshes my memories of my association with Radhakishanji… I always ask him: ‘what made you look out at the peak of your cycle in 2000 to look out for a very, very tough business’… I haven’t got the answer yet,” said Shah. Damani, who was present on the dais, unsurprisingly, said nothing. Instead, he let the numbers speak — and their echo reverberates to this day.

The stock doubled on debut, closing the day above ₹600. Eight years on, it trades at over ₹4,000, delivering a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.75%. In an era when retail giants, both domestic and foreign, have come and gone, DMart has not shuttered a single store since inception. The model is tight, focussed, and profitable. So much that a lion’s share (₹2.12 lakh crore/93.36%) of Damani’s net worth comes from the modern retail powerhouse valued at ₹2.64 lakh crore.

An unintended switch

Short in stature, with an unassuming presence and a signature gentle smile, Damani carries himself with a confidence that even left the late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala in awe. Larger than life in every sense, Jhunjhunwala, who first met Damani on the streets of the Bombay Stock Exchange in the late ’80s, revered him as a mentor, such that he entrusted him as one of the confidants to manage his family trust. One wore flamboyance like a second skin, the other wore white-on-white and disappeared into a crowd. “The patience he has to hear the other person’s point of view is unbelievable,” Jhunjhunwala once said.

Contrary to general perception, Damani didn’t begin in stocks. As a young man, he was set on becoming an industrial trader. He started a modest ball-bearing business, hustling for margins in the gritty world of hardware sourcing and supply. It was the untimely demise of his father, Shivkishanji, in 1984 that inadvertently led Radhakishan into the family’s broking business.

“He was a reluctant entrant but was quick enough to realise that he would rather be a small fish in the big stock market than being a big fish in a small business,” recalls well-known investor Ramesh Damani, a close friend and the first chairman of Avenue Supermarts, during a conversation with Fortune India.

The transition to equities came naturally to Damani who had absorbed the rhythms of trading by listening to his father’s one-sided phone conversations as a child — learning when to cut losses, how to resist greed, and never to assume you’re bigger than the market. These lessons shaped his investing DNA: conservative, disciplined, and relentlessly focussed on business quality. “He never bought a stock thinking he will take it higher. He always believed price follows business quality,” reveals Ramesh.

Damani doesn’t chase fads. His portfolio features “one-decision” stocks, that is, investments such as HDFC Bank, ITC, and VST Industries, where the investment thesis is so sound, you rarely need to revisit it. In fact, on the occasion of a religious ceremony of Ramesh’s son, Ashok, who was 12 years old, while the around 200 guests gifted cash, toys and sweets, Damani transferred 500 shares of HDFC Bank, then trading at ₹50. Decades later, those shares are worth a few crores — a quiet masterclass in compounding — and still adorns the portfolio of Ashok.

One of his more recent long-term investments — away from the public glare — is the unlisted National Stock Exchange (NSE), the next big bet after DMart. Once again, no headlines, no fuss — just a quiet belief in a business central to India’s financial future.

If compounding is Damani’s philosophy, he has also mastered the fine art of listening in a market bustling with trades. “Everyone wants to pitch ideas. He just listens. And when he’s convinced, he bets big,” says Ramesh. In 2018-19, Damani quietly accumulated PSU defence and railway stocks — long before they became the market’s darlings. The result: returns of 20-30x on some counters. “He didn’t evaluate the person; he evaluated the idea. That’s his genius,” says Ramesh.

That ability to separate signal from noise — and do it without airs — has left a mark on many in the investing world.

Investor and fellow Mumbaikar Vijay Kedia recalls his first meeting with Damani in the early ’90s. “I had just moved to Bombay and was looking to research a stock — Baroda Rayon, I think. Someone introduced me to RKD. He had a rare database on companies even back then. I was a rookie, but he came up to me and said, ‘Kuch accha lage toh humko bhi batana. (If you find something, let me know as well).’ That humility from someone with his market sense — it just stayed with me.”

That instinct to keep learning — even from a rookie — would later define his approach to business as much as investing.

Building DMart

At the peak of the dotcom boom, while others were chasing bytes, Damani went back to the basics — groceries. Inspired by Sam Walton’s Walmart, he incorporated Avenue Supermarts in 2000 and eventually set up the first DMart store in Powai, a residential suburb in Mumbai, in 2002. He realised India needed a local version of Walmart, not a western replica.

“Though he has never really explained why he got into retail, it’s very clear he saw an opportunity — when others didn’t — of the canvas getting bigger, believing that a flourishing economy would create opportunities not seen before,” says Kedia.

The DMart model is built on ruthless simplicity. A typical store spread over 25,000–30,000 sq. ft — not so small as to be inefficient as he believed a 5,000 sq. ft would not justify the economics of hiring a store manager, and also not so large as to lose control. Store formats are familiar, layouts predictable, assortments sharply curated. “DMart offers volume, not margin,” says Ramesh. DMart doesn’t return unsold goods, barring the occasional. “Once they buy it, they own it. That’s the philosophy. And it breeds discipline across the supply chain,” says a supply chain vendor who has a sense of the retailer’s sourcing mantra.

In fact, lessons in sourcing as a ball-bearing trader got only polished as Damani too played a pivotal role in DMart’s procurement strategy, joining sourcing agents and employees on trips where he’d fly economy, share hotel rooms, and comb trade fairs, putting in as many as 12 hours a day just like his employees. “He was never the boss on these trips,” says a company insider.

The culture he set — of low cost and high trust — has filtered through every level. And the customer proposition is clear: everyday low prices, no gimmicks, no flash. Vendor payments are made faster than industry norms. No stocking fees. He believed in giving customers what they wanted, not just what brands offered. “He refused to drop Pepsi just because Coke offered better margins. He never took stocking fees. He wanted to offer his customers both brands,” says the insider. For Damani, DMart isn’t about discounts, but about winning customer trust that they were getting the right value for the price. And perhaps most crucially, Damani refused to dilute equity before the IPO. Even today, he retains 74.65% of the company — a testament to his long-term conviction, even as fair-weather analysts sway with the tide on valuations.

Legacy in white-and-white

Despite his fortune, Damani has never made headlines for any flamboyant cars or extravagant purchases. But those close to him know: behind the silence lies a deep and steady sense of giving. “In 1993, after the BSE bomb blasts, he paid for the treatment of several street vendors,” recalls Ramesh Damani. Over the years, his philanthropy has extended quietly — supporting hospitals, education, and welfare initiatives, always without fanfare or public acknowledgment. One such initiative is Gopal Mansion, a low-cost stay facility in south Mumbai managed by the S.M.D. Charitable Trust, which provides accommodation to families of patients undergoing medical treatment at nearby hospitals like Bombay Hospital. “The left pocket doesn’t know what the right pocket is doing,” says a long-time associate.

Damani’s vision is being quietly and capably carried forward by his three daughters — Madhu Chandak, Manjri Chandak, and Jyoti Kabra — each holding a 2.47% stake in Avenue Supermarts and playing a distinct role in the world their father built. Madhu represents the family on the board of Bombay Swadeshi Stores, one of India’s iconic retail institutions and an associate company of the listed entity. Manjri serves as a non-executive director on the board of Avenue Supermarts and is also involved in shaping its corporate social responsibility initiatives. Jyoti, meanwhile, oversees the merchandising and consumer business operations of DMart, staying deeply engaged in the company’s day-to-day workings.

But, for now, Damani remains the driving force of the empire. That smile, subtle yet disarming, has become a quiet trademark. “It’s a genuine, gentle, reassuring expression that seems to convey inner calmness and an understated wisdom. I see that as a true blessing,” says Kedia. That inner stillness, say those who know him, is a deeply held truth. “He figured out the two hardest things in life,” says Ramesh. “How to make money quietly, and how to keep it with dignity.”