Prashant Jain’s resignation: Admiration for the manager and the man on Twitter

Prashant Jain to resign after nearly two decades with HDFC.

Some tweeted about fear of their holdings at the AMC losing value, now that the veteran has left, while others, tongue in cheek, expressed hope that the AMC would correct and present a buying opportunity.

Few and far between, there were angry tweets about Jain’s underperformance too, when he chose to stick too long with PSBs. In 2015, he had aggressively bet on public sector banks but the banks took a while to clean up their books and the fund schemes under Jain saw value destruction. 

Independent investor and IP Attorney Safir Anand took a bow at Jain’s compounding record and wrote about the senior fund manager’s graciousness.

“One of the most consistent fund managers with a credible history of 28 years and a compounding record that’s worth my bow. Having met him at presentations, admired his patience, meditation ability extended to investing. Never bad mouthed anyone. Thorough gentleman,” Anand tweeted.

“Managing public money is no way less than an Indian cricketer,” tweeted Siddhartha Bhaiya, MD and fund manager at Aequitas Investment Consultancy. He compared Jain to Sachin for his consistency and longevity in the face of immense pressure and constant scrutiny.

Calling Jain a "legend" and adding that his funds delivered 18% CAGR over 25 years, chief mentor and co-promoter of JRL Money Vijai Mantri tweeted  about continuity. "But as the saying goes! King is dead! Long live the king!," he posted. That is, a leader may have left but the show will go on.

Just as Jain has won the admiration of this founder, he seems to have awed others. Sonam Srivastava, founder and CEO at Wright Research, tweeted with the feeling-the-heat emoji when commenting on the Rs 1 lakh crore AUM that Jain was directly managing. “#Prashant Jain has been an inspiration for everyone,” she wrote.