Parikh’s wife Geeta is in critical condition.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Parag Parikh, accomplished Indian investor and co-founder of PPFAS Mutual Fund, was killed in a car accident in Nebraska on Sunday.
Parikh, 60, visiting from India, had gone to Omaha to attend the annual investor conference of Berkshire Hathaway where people get a chance to interact with billionaire investor Warren Buffet, according to The Times of India. Parikh, known for his stock picking abilities and long term investing, was a regular at the conference.
According to television reports from Nebraska, four people including Parikh, his wife Geeta, Rajeev Thakkar, the chief investment officer of the fund house and another person were travelling by car when they were involved in an accident at a traffic junction in the city.
Parikh was pronounced dead after he was taken to a nearby hospital while his wife is critical, reported the Times. A twitter update from Thakkar confirmed the Mumbai-based investor was dead.
“He brought good practices into broking and wealth management business,” said Anand Rathi, a long-time associate and past president of the Bombay Stock Exchange. “He extended this when he started the AMC business,” continued Rathi, speaking of the first entity Parikh’s founded in 1991, which he straightforwardly named after its specific modus operandi — asset management company.
“He was one of the few who had imbibed value investing from Warren Buffett and oriented it to suit the Indian market,” Shankar Sharma, vice-chairman of First Global, told The Hindustan Times. “We were novices when we started in the mid eighties and looked up to him as he was already an icon by then. I remember his conviction in investing in strong companies with a direct consumer connect — the Nestles, Castrols and ITCs of the world — which were expensive then. But he was convinced of their long- term values.”