Patience pays, says nonagenarian Dhirubhai loyalist

For 90-year-old K S Nayak, the listing of Reliance Power on Monday was a moment in nostalgia. Nayak, a resident of Apollo Bunder, Mumbai, had come to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) braving the unusually cold weather to witness Anil Ambani's listing of his power venture.

The fact that the shares did not light up proceedings on Monday did not let him down. "You need to be a patient investor to get returns from R-Power," he says. Nayak and his three other family members had applied for R-Power's shares and got 45 shares.

"You see, the government will be a big investor in power projects and R-Power will get a bulk of the orders when that happens," Nayak said.

Nayak claims he had known the late Dhirubhai Ambani since 1938. He was also given shares in the flagship Reliance Industries, which he still holds. It must be worth crores of rupees, but Nayak, who walks with the help of crutches, may be mistaken for an office assistant because of his appearance.

Looks are certainly misguiding. After the demerger of Reliance Industries between the two brothers, he has never even thought of selling his "family wealth", he tells you. "I don't know how much it is worth. But Ambanis have never let their shareholders' down. Never ever."

He claims that the late Dhirubhai had taken him to the Oberoi's to discuss plans and even to get advice on various plans. "See, the good thing about Dhirubhai was that he was a good listener of shareholders' problems."

Analysts, however, are not impressed by the opening show of Reliance Power on Monday. When Reliance Petroleum was listed in 1993, the stock traded below Rs 10 (the issue price) for months together, pointed out a senior company executive.

Arpit Agarwal, the head of research at Arihant Capital, said the global market scenario, coupled with the stretched pricing of the issue, caused the meltdown of the stock.

"Surely, there was hype around the issue and the bankers priced the issue to the maximum. Nothing was left on the table for investors," Agarwal said.