Thinkers & BehaviouralIndia

Prof. Sanjay Bakshi

Mental models and moats, taught for Indian markets.

Professor Sanjay Bakshi is an Indian teacher and investor who teaches value investing in Delhi. He explains the ideas of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger - mental models, moats, and buying good businesses - in a clear, simple way for Indian markets. He is known for thoughtful talks, patient teaching, and helping ordinary investors think honestly. He is perfect for Indian readers because he uses Indian examples and everyday language.

The method

He reads a business from many angles at once (a ‘latticework’ of simple big ideas), looks for a durable advantage (a moat), studies whether the promoters are honest, able, and fair to small shareholders, guards hard against his own mind’s traps, and insists on a good business bought at a fair price with a margin of safety - never wildly overpaying.

The record

He is known mainly as a teacher and thinker for Indian investors, not as a fund manager chasing headlines. His influence comes from decades of clear teaching, well-known lectures and writings, and the many students and readers who learned to think about businesses more carefully because of him.

Where they were wrong

Judging promoters and moats is genuinely hard and can go wrong - people and advantages can change, and India’s data and disclosures are often thinner and harder to check. ‘A good business at a fair price’ can quietly tempt you to overpay for an exciting story, and calling a company ‘great’ after it has already done well is looking backward. Knowing about mind-traps does not switch off their feeling, so the ideas protect you only if paired with honest rules and patience.

Studies

5
  1. Study 01Mental Models for Reading Indian BusinessesNever read a business with one idea - surround it with a few simple, well-understood ideas from different subjects.Read this study →
  2. Study 02Reading Moats in Indian CompaniesBefore you admire a company’s profit, name the wall around it - and be honest when there is no wall at all.Read this study →
  3. Study 03Honest and Able PromotersBefore you trust the bus, check the driver - honest, able, and fair to the passengers in the back seat.Read this study →
  4. Study 04Behavioural Traps of Indian InvestorsWhen a tip, envy, a thrilling story, or the crowd pulls you to buy, that pull is the danger - decide for yourself, slowly.Read this study →
  5. Study 05A Fair Price for a Great BusinessPrefer a good business at a fair price - but never let ‘it’s great’ talk you into paying a foolish price for it.Read this study →

Our own plain-English reading of a publicly documented investor’s method, in our own words. It describes structural, public-record facts and the investor’s own stated mistakes; it makes no judgement on any living company and is not a recommendation to buy or avoid anything. Figures marked [illustrative] are constructed to demonstrate a method. Educational only; the author is not SEBI-registered and nothing here is investment advice.