A man who lost Rs 35 lakh at the stock market!

Wealth spoke to a man who grew up wanting to become rich, but lost all that he had earned in a flash!

Name: Omprakash Chaudhary (name withheld on request)
Age: 73
Where I live: Mumbai
What I do: I used to work in a steel company. Now, retired and resting.

IT'S been eight years since Chaudhary lost Rs 35 lakh at the stock market, but he is still recovering from the loss. "The only thing that's churning in my mind is, I need to recover the money somehow, and pay back all creditors," he says. He had no idea how the markets work.

But his younger brother Narayan made good money. So why not him?

The first investment
In 1996, when Chaudhary was 62-years old, he made his first investment of Rs 40,000. He invested in Wipro, Infosys, Associated Cement Companies (ACC) and Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL).

"This was my strategy -- buy shares in the morning and as the price shot up, sell it the same day before the clock strikes 3.30 pm." His highest one day profit was Rs 30,000. This obviously encouraged him to invest more. It worked well for him. His younger brother, on the other hand, had invested for long term. He hardly did any day to day trading

The crash
"In 1999-2000, the IT sector went bust and I made huge losses. I would buy shares blindly and sell them in the evening. This habit was a big mistake. I was suffering a loss every day. Worse, I would sell it off before the markets closed."

Bogus companies"My younger son would hear the buzz in the market. Little did he know that bogus companies called 'Ahmedabadi companies' were doing the rounds. It seems the promoters were from Ahmedabad and they knew the drawbacks of the stock market."

"We would buy their shares when the rates had already increased. Then suddenly, these companies would shut down and take off with all the stocks from the market," he shares. Chaudhary had already lost Rs 10 lakh.

Borrowing to invest
Then came a time when he realised there was no money left to invest. "I started borrowing money from others to recover my losses. This did not help. By then, I owed Rs 25 lakh." He borrowed Rs 20 lakh from his younger brother and Rs 5 lakh from a friend. By now, his creditors refused to lend him more money. Today, he is 73 and still trying to pay back his creditors. He has not been able to return his debt to any of his creditors.

Is the stock market for rich people?
Chaudhary believes that investing in equities is a good idea for those who have lots of money. So, even if you lose, there is no problem.

Chaudhary is now back to the stock market with a ray of hope in his heart. He has invested in two stocks -- Rana Sugar and Maharaja Shree -- but their prices have reduced to half in the last two years.

He does not favour his sons getting into the stock market. He says, "The stock market is no different than gambling!"