Gurus of Chaos: Modern India's Money Masters

by Saurabh Mukherjea

What does it take to be a stock market guru? What are the traits needed to be a successful investor? Can one master the stock market or is it a gift one is born with? How does one build a portfolio and protect it? Learn from the masters. The Indian stock market is many things to many people. Some are drawn to its thrill and promise but, more often than not, they fail to recognize the risk that accompanies the reward of a great ride. For many, the market and its workings defy logic and mastery. However, within the universe of market watchers in India, there is a small group that has managed to build a fine set of navigation tools and develop a unique perspective and approach towards the market. They have created and institutionalized investment strategies based on their experiences and philosophies. Saurabh Mukherjea delves into the minds of seven such individuals asking them to elaborate on the tools they use and how these work. He traces their journey from being novices to successful long-term investors. Using their insights and his own experience of working in the market for nearly a decade, Mukherjea provides an essential and indispensable framework for operating in the Indian stock market.

The interviews with prominent fund managers in the book are:

Sanjoy Bhattacharya
Alroy Lobo
Akash Prakash
Sankaran Naren
Sashi Reddy
B.N. Manjunath
One who prefers to remain anonymous

Genres: Finance, Business, Personal Finance, India, Nonfiction, Money, Economics

172 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2014

About the author

Saurabh Mukherjea is founder and chief investment officer of Marcellus Investment Managers. He is the former CEO of Ambit Capital and played a key role in Ambit’s rise as a broker and a wealth manager. When Mukherjea left Ambit in June 2018, assets under advisory were $800mn. Prior to Ambit, Saurabh was co-founder of Clear Capital, a London-based small-cap equity research firm that was created in 2003 and sold in 2008. He is a CFA charterholder with a BS in economics (with First Class Honours) and an MS in economics (with distinction in macroeconomics and microeconomics) from the London School of Economics.

Reviews

[Milan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are very few books available on the Indian stock markets and money managers. We always have to rely on books written by foreign authors based on the foreign markets. In such a scenario, a book on Indian investment managers is always welcome.’Gurus of Chaos’ by Saurabh Mukherjea is a slim volume which can be read very quickly, but it gives you some points to think about as well. The author is not trying to tell you something new about the process of investing but is reiterating the known facts in a simple way to understand.

The best part(s) of the book is the interviews with portfolio managers based in India or who invest in Indian Markets. There are interviews with Sanjoy Bhattacharya, Alroy Lobo, Akash Prakash, Sankaran Naren, Sashi Reddy, BN Manjunath and an anonymous fund manager who is easy to identify. It’s always good to know how the professional managers approach the investing process. However, most of the interviews are quite brief and the book gets over in 172 pages which also include the content written by the author himself and the seven interviews. In my opinion, the book is too short. If Saurabh Mukherjea was making an effort to finish a book on the Indian markets and fund managers, I don't understand why he left out so many well known Indian professional investors from this book. He could have included more interviews if he did not had the time to write more content for the book. Even in a small book like this, there is repetition of ideas by the author which could have been edited.

[Vijai · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has been sincere in his efforts - you can make out from the kind of questions he asks. However, I maybe unfair here, there was this nagging feeling that this was one of the many other efforts to glorify fund houses. Not that they are bad but to focus only on fund managers heavily and leave out some of the other mavericks of Dalal street left me a bit disappointed.

Good stuff, lots of references to other good books to help the reader become more knowledgeable, advise at a broader level on portfolio selection and managing both buy and sell side strategies.

Like my Math teacher wrote in every exam paper of mine - Good but can do better.

[Sourav · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is based on some of the famous MF managers in India. I didn't understand the point of book. The author first provides glimpse of his investing theory and suddenly jumps to MF managers where he explains a bit on their investing rationale which, to me, doesn't hold consistency with his own theory.

[Arup Guha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is written in a very unorganized fashion. I think the editor rather than the author is to blame for that. But it is not low on information. The biggest treasures in the book are the interviews. Through them, you get multiple learned and well informed views on issues of relevance to an investor. Apart from the interviews, Saurabh tries very hard to list and demonstrate the qualities that one should have as an investor.
Overall a valuable resource.
Two asks: a future edition should be better organised. one book demonstrating Saurabh's legendary research skills; possibly taking a few annual reports and dissecting them.

[Bhuvanesh Kandasamy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book shares the mind of some of the successful fund managers in the Indian markets. Some of the key takeaways were
1) Having a simple framework of investing
2) Understanding the business model of the company
3) Having a well defined framework to manage risk
4) Having a contrarian mind
5) Putting in 10,000 hours into the skill to become an expert by constant reading and gaining experience.
Overall, I would say the book was an average read as I felt the book could have been better organized in terms of the content and placement of the interviews of the fund managers. It felt the author wrote down his learnings for the book as he would write in a personal diary.

[Rohit Manghnani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other books of Saurabh are better

This book has lots of different views of different people and it leaves to the reader to pick the common threads. It's quite decent but would recommend people read Coffee Can investing which is more thorough

[Sourav Kundu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I will keep coming back to. Excellent ideas on a very important skill -wealth generation through investments in equities in India

[Subash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good in parts. The portion describing Sanjoy Bhattacharya, Akash Prakash are good. The portion which describes Mutual Fund managers are useless at best to me.

[Shishira Somashekar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished this book on my way back in the flight. interviews did not make much sense for me. rest of the book is good.

[Meghna Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gurus of Chaos by Saurabh Mukherjea explores what it takes to be a successful investor in the Indian stock market. The book delves into the minds of seven seasoned fund managers who have navigated the complexities of the market and developed unique investment strategies. Through insightful interviews, Mukherjea uncovers their experiences, philosophies, and the tools they use to build and protect their portfolios. Drawing on these discussions and his own extensive market experience, the author provides readers with an essential framework for approaching the Indian stock market.

Gurus of Chaos offers a rare glimpse into the Indian stock market through the lens of some of its most experienced fund managers. While the book is concise and easy to read, it leaves you wishing for more depth, especially in the interviews. The insights shared are valuable, particularly for those new to investing, as the managers emphasize having a simple, well-defined framework and understanding business models deeply. However, the book could have benefited from including a broader range of voices and better organization of the content. Despite these shortcomings, it serves as a good starting point for anyone looking to understand the Indian stock market and the minds of those who have mastered it.

[Shailesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will recommend this only for beginners.
The book has two parts - content related to investment & journey of the author in the investing world. I liked this part & this will benefit someone who has just started. Nice & simple articulation.

The 2nd part of the book has various interviews about the successful investors & money managers of India. I enjoyed only Sanjoy & Akash Prakash & felt the others interviews didn’t provide any key insights.
Nonetheless, beginners will enjoy it as gives perspectives on various investors started their investment journey & their key notable moments. Since I had different expectations so a bit disappointed.

[Vijay Chengappa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its an interesting read for several reasons
- When we usually think of Stock market gurus, we're prone to think of Individuals like Rakesh Jhunjunwala or RK Damani, and not really the Fund managers of large Mutual Funds
- We think MF funds always play it safe by investing in blue chips like HUL/TCS (After all what research could be needed to invest in those :), but its a hard job to track the economy as a whole, identify sectors etc
- Also talks about the challenges of the Indian market (extremely short term horizons, immense comparison) and how these MF heads have to work around those.

[Avinash Minj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it, nay observed it. The thing that I liked most about Saurabh Mukherjee is his lucid manner of explaining complex financial jargons. As it common in his other books too, the Unusual Billionaires. This book based on Coffee Can Portfolio investment and includes interviews of various fund managers and their view on Value Investing. A goodread for those who are new in the field of investing or those who want to start investing. As it is said, Investing is new saving.

[Kishore Seetharam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gurus of Chaos is essentially a collection of interviews of seasoned market participants in India. It gives an inside view of how fund managers in India think and introduces you to practices that have / have not worked in fundamental investing in India (India specific books on this topic are fairly limited). You may not agree with some of the views, but reading it as a chronicle of the different schools of thought that are at play in the Indian market is still a useful exercise - if you do invest in the Indian markets yourself.

[Ranit Dey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives some pertinent data regarding Indian stock market and special issues one faces when investing in Indian stock market. the checklist to detect the accounting shenanigans used by Indian promoter is useful. The book reinforces the message that you cannot take the accounting numbers at face value in India and need for extreme caution. This fact is born out by repeated scams in Indian stock market.

[Aseem · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intelligently and honestly written book

In this book the writer has deftly blended practical insights from experienced and well regarded investors while also trying to convey to the reader if and how they can be more effective investors. It's been thoughtfully and honestly written and is packed with useful ideas. Worth a read for most imo

[Aditya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good India focused investing book

the interviews of few good Indian fund managers does make this an interesting read. Book doesnt contain any groundbreaking investing rules/ideas or new school of thinking in investing, but still this book does speak all things investing from Indian perspective thus making it a good one time read

[Pratik Jain · Rating 5 out of 5]

First book which focus on indian imvesting gurus

If somebody wants an Indian perspective this is a good starting point . A fresh look at investing from the point of view of indian investors

[Sahil Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is very difficult to stick to one's guns especially in times of volatility. This book offers some nuggets of wisdom from some of the leading Indian money managers who candidly admit mistakes, speak of how they weather stormy periods and effectively create significant wealth for investors.

[Mahesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is good but not the best for me.

[Manik Patil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read for anyone, who wants to invest in Indian stockmarkets.

[Tulika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good if you are taking baby steps towards financial knowledge, otherwise you can give this book a skip. All in all, a decent short read.

[Akshit Rajput · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing groundbreaking, it is just a collection of interviews of Saurabh Mukherjea with some of the top fund managers in Indian markets.

[Piyush Khandelwal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book describes about various Indian investors & their philosophy

[Udit Srivastava · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book which is based on interviews with top fund managers in India. Also, interspersed between the chapters are ideas about doing fundamental research about the companies, evaluation of ROCEs, Cash Flows,Risk Management and being contrarian to the market.
Overall, a decent read.
4/5

[Ved Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book over a weekend and I was pleased with the outcome. Many things to learn from the money managers who were interviewed for the purpose of this book.

[Prateek Sharma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay okay, same value as other books by thr author.

[Ninaad Athalye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Loved reading this book. This is my third book of SM. Like the way he presents things. Would recommend you to read

[Naveen · Rating 3 out of 5]

few beginner tips given for stock market investing + interviews with best Indian fund managers of 1990-2015

[Madhura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good starter

Simply superb guide for a naive retail investor stepping into the concept of stock market 😊. Would be more helpful if few case studies were included.