The Mumbai-based investment banker, who is the great-grandson of Purbhoodas Jeevandas Kothari, one of the BSE’s founders, has carved out an impressive professional path while carrying on his family’s 150-year tradition in finance and investment management. Given his ancestry, Hemendra Kothari entered the family business of investment banking naturally carrying forward the family legacy and heading DSP Mutual Fund. He now chairs DSP Investment Managers–an independent Indian asset management company that has $15 billion in assets under management (as per Forbes).
Early Life
Hemendra Kothari pursued his graduation from Mumbai’s Sydenham College. He began his professional career at the age of 22. While talking about his early life in an interview with Money Life he talked about the role played by his father, and how he had previously counselled him against entering the stock market since it is not a particularly exciting field. He started working in the textile sector at Morarji Mills, following his father’s suggestion, and earning a salary of Rs 1,200 per month as per the GQ report. He worked there for two years, 8 am to 10 pm.
Hemendra Kothari takes on family business
Kothari ventured into finance in the year 1969 with D.S. Purbhoodas & Co, the business owned by his family. Purbhoodas Jeevandas Kothari, Premchand Roychand, and others founded the Indian Stock market (now the BSE), the tenth-oldest stock market in the world, in 1895 on Mumbai’s now-famous Dalal Street, under a banyan tree. In an interview with Harvard Business School, he described that year as difficult since forward trading was outlawed and banks in India were nationalised.
In an interview for Harvard Business School, he said that joining the family business was the right step for him. As the clients appreciated and respected his obvious passion for the industry, and as a result, he began receiving business from numerous institutions despite the difficult situation of the markets. He credits his success to his ability to spot trends and seize chances before rivals. He talks about many of these “firsts” throughout the interview, including how and why he pursued them and how they affected the expansion of his company.
In 2008, he co-founded the company with BlackRock, but ten years later, he bought out BlackRock’s ownership. He joined Merrill Lynch in 1995, but between 2005 and 2009, he sold his 57% ownership in the company in installments as per Forbes.
In his 54-year career, Kothari has held a variety of positions, including partner in his father’s business and assistant sales manager at a textile mill. Kothari is currently the CEO of DSP Mutual Fund, an independent asset management firm with $15 billion in assets under management in India as per GQ reports.
The investment banker is a proud exhibitor of his artwork in his Mumbai office. His daughter Aditi Kothari Desai, who is now the vice chairwoman and head of sales at DSP, has followed in his financial family business footsteps. He formed the Wildlife Conservation Trust and has given meeting spaces at his workplace the names of tiger reserves since he loves wildlife.
Hemendra Kothari’s net worth
According to Forbes, his net worth is $1.4 billion and is one of the wealthiest in India.