For all those who attend annual general meetings (AGMs) of blue chip companies, Asha Lata Maheshwari needs no introduction. With a penchant for old film songs and shayari , she has made even the best of Chairmen and Managing Directors blush when she compares them with the moon and flowers.
One among her all time favourites is Cairn India's Chief Executive Officer, Rahul Dhir, who she has compared with the moon on several occassions. In fact, at one of the AGMs, she asked Dhir to remove the flower vase kept in front of him so that she could have a clear view of Dhir. Though embarassed, he obliged. Her poetic streak apart, Maheshwari is no flippant woman. She's an astute investor with shareholding in close to 1,000 companies in India. That takes her net worth beyond Rs 4 crore. She also runs her own company called Market analysis and promoters (MAP). “It has been more than 50 years since I have been investing. I took after my father-in-law who was into trading. My family is also in trading,” she says.
Maheshwari began trading in shares in her late 20s. Now, 75, she says her first investment was in HDFC Ltd. She has not exited completely from any of the companies that she has invested in, so far. “The only company I have exited so far was Grasim Industries. My father-in-law had gifted me 1,000 shares. During my daughter’s wedding I had to sell these,” she adds. A typical day for Maheshwari begins with the day’s newspapers and market news on business news channels. “I study the details of a company after the markets close or late in the night. When I started investing it was based on newspaper and brokerage reports. Now TV also helps,” she says.
Maheshwari’s reason to attend AGMs is to meet the top managment of the compnies. “There will always be shareholders who create a ruckus and many just repeat the company’s performance while discussing it. But AGMs are the only time that you get to meet the top management of the companies.” For instance, she pleaded with Mukesh Ambani during this month’s RIL AGM: “When the EPS is over Rs 60, a dividend payout of Rs 8 seems too less and the company should pay a bonus to shareholders next year.”
