Mumbai: Waaree Energies IPO, which listed at a premium on September 8, 2024, helped to bring the focus on Waaree Group CMD Hitesh C Doshi, who started his business almost 40 years ago with a Rs 5,000 loan. Since the, Doshi’s business has grown from strength to strength and propelled his fortune to over Rs 42,000 crore.
Waaree Energies IPO has brought Doshi into the list of the world’s richest billionaires, Bloomberg reported.
Waaree Energies IPO listing
Waaree Energies’ IPO listed at a premium of 56 per cent over the IPO price, driving up the Doshi family’s fortune to around $5.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index. Waaree Energies is majority owned by the Doshi family along with Waaree Renewable Technologies, the fellow listed company of the Waaree Group.
Hitesh Chimanlal Doshi personal life
Born in Tunki, Maharashtra, Doshi moved to Mumbai for studies and completed his education at Shri Chinai College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai in 1985. It was during college that Doshi took out a Rs 5,000 loan from a relative. With this corpus he began a trading business focused on hardware and electronics apart from instrument gauges, the ET reported. He used the profits from this business to pay for his education and stay in Mumbai.
He went on to set up a factory using a Rs 1.5 lakh loan following his graduation. The manufacturing facility was focused on pressure gauges and industrial vales, apart from gas station equipment. Doshi traded with partners in the US and Europe. He pivoted towards solar energy after an eye-opening visit to a trade exhibition in Germany in 2007, the YourStory reported. Doshi refocused his business towards thermal equipment manufacturing. Waaree also manufactures solar cells. Waaree energies is named after the Wari temple in the village where he grew up.
All about Waaree Energies
Waaree Energies manufactures solar cell modules. It is India’s largest maker of such modules with an output capacity of 12,000 MW. Waaree Energies’ major exports are made to the US which have received a boost from tariffs imposed on Chinese imports. Waaree Energies is planning to build a 6 GW factory in Odisha which will achieve a Rs 2800 crore boost from the recent IPO fundraise. The company is building another plant in Gujarat’s Chikli apart from a unit in the US.
