DELHI, India: Dubbed the country's Warren Buffett, India's best-known stock investor and self-made billionaire, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, died on August 14 at the age of 62.

According to Forbes, his net worth was some $6 billion.

He died one week after the launch of his budget airline, Akasa Air. The cause of his death was not immediately announced.

Ten years ago Jhunjhunwala told Reuters, "All I have known is trading and investing. I do not want to do anything else in life, I will call it quits the day I die."

Earlier this week, he told CNBC-TV18 that India's economy, the third largest in Asia, was "entering a golden age."

Business leaders and bankers based in India's financial capital, Mumbai, who had worked with him for over 30 years, said Jhunjhunwala's communication skills helped small investors
understand the stock market, and his insights on the economy and companies made him a TV celebrity.

Jhunjhunwala, who was born in the state of Rajasthan and trained as an accountant, began trading in stocks as a teenager and went on to manage RARE Enterprises, a stock trading firm.
His firm's investments include in the Tata Group, Tata Motors, watchmaker Titan and Tata Communications.

Other investments include Indiabulls Housing Finance, Star Health Insurance, Federal Bank and vocational training company Aptech Ltd.

In an earlier interview with Reuters, Jhunjhunwala said that since the country's economy was liberalized in 1991, a period in which the main Sensex index rose some 40-fold, the growth of the Indian stock market was a major factor in his personal success.

Commenting on Jhunjhunwala's death, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Investor, bold risk taker, masterly understanding of the stock market, clear in communication, a leader in his own right. Had strong belief in India's strength and capabilities," as posted on Twitter.

Jhunjhunwala's school and college mate, Uday Kotak, chief executive of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said Jhunjhunwala "believed stock-India was undervalued. He is right," as quoted by Reuters.