As the name suggests(and I hope in due course of time) this is bound to become the Indian equivalent of the Ben Graham's, 'The Intelligent Investor'. This particular title by Mr.Maheshwari stands out amongst the current Indian literature available on investing and is a definitive work that covers all aspects of equity investments in the Indian market. Apart from the usual beginner's guides from stalwarts like Ben Graham, Peter Lynch, Charlie Munger, Joel Greenblatt etc Indian equity investors had very few options. They had to interpret and adapt foreign authors' work in terms of Indian market scenarios, which meant the outcome ranged from useful to impractical conclusion.
With a well-known track record of wildly successful investments and having been in the market since the early 1990s, Mr Maheshwari starts with his introduction, how he got started with equity investments and briefly discusses investment philosophy. The book has 41 chapters(!) dealing with all aspects of equity investment based on Mr.Maheshwri's journey as an investor and following a loosely chronological order right from the 1990s. Finally culminating in dos and don't and his thoughts on leverage and a checklist for beginners.
Baring a few chapters, in the beginning, a basic understanding of finance, equity investment and the broad Indian corporate governance/ culture is important for anyone who wishes to take maximum out of this brilliant book. Besides this, I found that (maybe not intentionally) the author does not discuss the downside risk for HFCs. As many might know that the author has investments in a few of the HFCs which have done very well. They sort of appear in the book time and again. But somehow he forgets to mention that he entered them post-2008 when the cycle for cheap credit started and emerging economies have been flush with cheap money ever since. To top it off the bad loan problem with PSU banks(and hence the poor credit growth by PSU banks) aided this phenomenal growth in Indian HFCs. As now the cycle has started to reverse after a 10-year gap and the raw material that aided this phenomenal growth is bound to become expensive and hence the downside risk. The point is the author discusses at length about problems with a large number of sector and also his own short-sightedness and his bets that turned sour.
Having said that, the author has tried his best to make the reader understand that the Indian market is unique. And there are rules that might work for a matured markets in EU and US but those same rule need be true for the Indian market. I enjoyed reading this book immensely and would recommend it to anyone who would like to gain an understanding of an emerging market and an investor's journey from the days of Indian economic liberalisation right till the end of taper tantrum.