A little-known story about Radhakishan S Damani, ace investor, retail magnate and India's second richest man (according to Forbes), is of his transition from early entrepreneurship to the stock market.

Educated in Mumbai, where his father worked on Dalal Street, he dropped out of college after studying commerce for a year.

A ball bearings business then engaged his attention; he didn't want to be involved in the stock market at the time.

Veteran Mumbai investor Radhakishan Damani became India's retail king after the March 2017 IPO of his supermarket chain DMart.

Veteran Mumbai investor Radhakishan Damani became India's retail king after the March 2017 IPO of his supermarket chain DMart.
Damani got into retailing in 2002 with one store in suburban Mumbai and has been unstoppable since.

Damani also holds stakes in a range of companies, from tobacco firm VST industries to beer maker United Breweries.

His property portfolio includes the 156-room Radisson Blu Resort in Alibag, a popular beach-front getaway close to Mumbai.

An uncle, whom he looked up to, is said to have convinced him to make the transition after his father's death.

He asked Damani to name the most successful person in the ball bearings business.

Then he asked him how much that person might be worth.

And then asked how it compared with the biggest names on Dalal Street.

Damani got the message: If he truly wanted to create wealth, he needed to get out of the small pond, even if he was its biggest fish.

In the financial year 2016-2017, around the time of its initial public offer (IPO), Damani's Avenue Supermarts, which owns the hypermarket chain DMart, had a revenue of Rs 11,926 crore.

During the same period, the Indian bearings market was estimated at Rs 9,500 crore, according to rating agency Icra.

In his mid-sixties, Damani today has a net worth of over $15 billion, or over Rs 1 trillion.