The Wizards of the Street | Never be an engine, always be a bogie, says Amal Parikh

With grit, imagination and full of daring, Amal Parikh, Promoter and Director, Ohm Stock Broker, overcame his truth and transformed himself from a programmer to a player in the capital markets all within 20 years. While explaining his biggest learning of the stock market of being a follower rather than a leader, he said, “We call it as ‘never be an engine, always be a bogie’.”

Parikh revealed that late stock maverick Rakesh Jhunjhunwala whom he was servicing as a broker was a father figure, mentor and guide to him and had inspired him in all the aspects of his life not just stock market.

How to invest, how to buy and hold, how to think for a long-term rather than a short-term are few of the lessons Parikh learnt from Jhunjhunwala, he said.

Still young at 50 and in his first TV appearance, Parikh shared his inspiring story with Ramesh Damani in a CNBC-TV18 special show ‘The Wizards of the Street’.

“My journey started in 1991 and around 1998-1999, we saw the boom in technology. That is when I invested a lot of money in technology and made a lot of money in 2000 also,” he said.

Parikh's first job was as a computer operator at the stock market, which drew him a monthly salary of Rs 2,500 and during that period, his definition of being rich was to have Rs 1-1.5 crore.

“Rs 1-1.5 crore would have made me super happy. With Rs 2,500 also I was very happy as I didn’t have to ask money from my dad,” he said.

When asked how he deals with losses, he said, “I get relieved when I book my losses, I am fresh when I book my losses and I have no emotions that is what I have learnt from Rakesh bhaiya. Same is with RK Damani also, both are very quick in booking their losses. I have learnt that from them and till now I continue to do that in my trading.”