Celebrated and criticised in equal measure, P.R. Sundar’s trading firm Mansun Consultancy Private Limited has grown at a scorching pace since it was incorporated in mid-2017.
Trade data accessed from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs database shows that since FY18, Mansun’s profit has gone from strength to strength, leapfrogging from a middling net profit of Rs 88.24 lakh in FY18 to Rs 23.43 crore in FY22.
His Future and Options (F&O) profit trajectory has been equally impressive. In a span of five financial years FYs, his F&O profit has surged by nearly 21 times from Rs 68.31 lakh in FY18 to Rs 14.06 crore in FY22.
The previous two financial years have been extremely kind to Sundar. From F&O trading losses of Rs 1.37 crore in FY20, Sundar vaulted to Rs 5.65 crore in profit, and from thereon, Mansun’s F&O profit has multiplied almost threefold to Rs 14.65 crore.
The trader, who has been in the eye of a social media storm recently for making a distasteful comment, saw the net worth of Mansun multiply by close to 40 times to Rs 35.58 crore from a little less than Rs 1 crore in a span of five years.
On the sidelines, Mansun has also been drawing heat from market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for allegedly providing unregistered investment advisory services. The matter was listed for examination by SEBI in late November.
Mansun’s F&O profits have not been explicitly stated in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs database. While the net worth and net profit figures have been drawn from the company financials, the F&O profit figures were provided to Moneycontrol by Sundar’s auditor.
Over the years, Mansun’s ‘other income,’ derived from conferences, seminars, YouTube sponsorship, marketing affiliate income, mentorship income, training fees as well as broking revenue has been outpacing Sundar’s F&O profits.
For instance, in FY21, his other income clocked in at Rs 10.12 crore over Rs 5.65 crore in F&O profit. In FY22, his other income, at Rs 21.60 crore, dwarfed F&O profit of Rs 14.06 crore.
The MTM vs P&L duel
Sundar has been in the news for his spirited stand against Mark-to-Market (MTM) statement verifications, an initiative that is being piloted by Sensibull, an online trading platform. Sensibull’s verification tool is at the heart of the controversy, which has been drawing praise from scores of retail investors but is also being targeted by traders for being far from foolproof.
Many traders have been feeling the pressure of verifying their statements, and not all of them have been receptive to the idea. Sundar, for one, has been arguing that the MTM statement can be misleading. It is the position at the closing, says Sundar, that is of material importance over an MTM statement which could show profits for a brief period of time but could end in a loss at the closing.
Internet altercations aside, Sundar is training his sights higher, and in a YouTube video, said he is aiming for a profit of Rs 50 crore in FY23. Over the years, millions of newbie investors and traders have gravitated towards the trader, lured by his rags-to-riches story and the promise of earning crores of rupees via trading, a profession which historically has forbiddingly high failure and attrition rates.
Stories of Sundar first wearing slippers when he was in the 10th standard, being so poor that he couldn’t afford a bicycle until later on in his life and having an unskilled labourer for a father only add to his allure for starry-eyed traders who dream of making it big in the stock market.
Currently, Sundar runs a mentorship programme and the capital entry barrier for it is as high as Rs 2 crore. He has made no secret about discouraging retail investors with less than Rs 25 lakhs from taking his workshops.
Rewinding the clock
Sundar’s coin has risen in lockstep with the emergence of a new wave of retail investors, who, in the aftermath of the pandemic, have been progressively tapping the markets as an avenue to earn some extra income in quick time. Sundar rose to Internet popularity as retail trading participation took off aggressively in India.
A sizeable chunk of his revenue comes from his entrenched social media presence. The social media-savvy trader has mentioned often that he has as many as 7-8 income streams, including trading, YouTube and sub-broking income.
Over the years, his mutual fund investments, marked as ‘current investments,’ have seen considerable expansion and redemption. From FY18, when the market value of his mutual funds clocked in at Rs 5.35 crore, it slumped to a marginally lower level in FY20 to Rs 4.89 crore before soaring to Rs 13.16 crore in FY21. As of FY22, his current investments (including Bharat Bonds) are close to Rs 7 crore. Sundar clarified that he doesn’t invest in mutual funds and that investments marked as mutual funds are Bharat Bond Exchange-Traded Funds.
“As a trader, I already carry risk in the form of F&O trades. I do not invest in mutual funds because I don’t need that kind of risk. I invest in Bharat Bonds,” Sundar said.
Mansun’s beginnings were rather humble. Sundar and his wife collectively lent Rs 86.25 lakh to the company while Rs 2.5 crore came from another director by the name of Ramalingam Marimuthu, a close family friend according to Sundar.
Meanwhile, the newly purchased Mercedes Benz S-class, which contributes to the hoopla around Sundar, has been financed by HDFC Bank for which Sundar will have to fork out 60 consecutive Equated Monthly Instalments (EMIs) of Rs 3,25,849. His new flat in a tony Chennai neighbourhood has been financed by the Bank of India for Rs 14.92 crore, and the bank documents put down the evaluated price of the apartment at Rs 22.26 crore. At a massive 8,349 sq feet, Sundar will have to pay 240 EMIs of Rs 11.12 lakh to pay off the loan.
Sundar told us that the Jaguar XF which seems to make regular appearances on his social media accounts was purchased in his own name in 2015. The trader also owns a Rolls Royce Phantom and purchased an apartment in downtown Dubai for a total of Rs 8 crore about two months ago.
Sources close to Sundar told us that he is setting up a hedge fund in Dubai, which is in the final stages of receiving approval. A source also disclosed that the trader was setting up a software company in Dubai that will be launching a strategy builder for F&O traders in both Indian and international markets.
The son also rises
It isn’t just Sundar’s firm that has been raking in the moolah. Uyarvu Securities, run by his son Ashwin Sundar has also been growing at a blistering pace, second only to Mansun Consultancy.
Total revenue has been expanding at an exponential pace, clocking in at Rs 7.76 crore in FY22 vis-a-vis just Rs 3.43 crore in the previous year, and barely Rs 4 lakh in its first year of operation i.e FY18.
Net profit has also spiked from Rs 15,800 in FY18 to Rs 2.22 crore in FY21 to Rs 5.39 crore in FY22.
Just like Mansun, the net worth of Uyarvu has also surged. From a little over Rs 1 lakh in FY18, the firm's net worth shot up to Rs 51 lakh in the next year and then to Rs 1.83 crore in FY20. According to the last declared result in FY22, it stood at Rs 9.37 crore.
Profit from F&O trading also saw a consistent rise in the previous three financial years, leapfrogging from Rs 40.04 lakh in FY20 to Rs 1.78 crore in FY21 before moving up to settle at Rs 2.44 crore in FY22.
Sundar told Moneycontrol that his son manages all transactions in Uyarvu Securities.
“I don’t interfere in the matters of Uyarvu Securities. It is my son’s firm and he manages everything. I sometimes help out as a father,” he said.
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