Edelweiss MF CEO Radhika Gupta tells why she won’t buy luxury cars!

Today even collegegoers want a luxury car but for Radhika Gupta, the CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Funds, she simply won’t buy one. Radhika Gupta is one of the biggest names in the line of Indian finance.

As a CEO, Gupta oversees assets worth more than ₹1 lakh crore across mutual funds and other investment products in her company. She has an estimated net worth of ₹41 crores and has starred on Shark Tank India as an investor to fund startups.

However, in a recent episode of a Money & Mental Health podcast, she revealed she sticks with a humble Innova instead of a fancy car. It’s not about affordability for her but about what adds value. 

Why Radhika Gupta won’t go for luxury cars?

Gupta added back in school her classmates were more privileged than her. So, it took time for her to get rid of her financial insecurity. The CEO remarked that it is only in the last few years that she has found a sense of security. However, she still struggles to buy fancy luxury items for herself.

“I can’t get myself to buy a luxury car,” she confessed. “I can afford it… every time I get a bonus, I tell myself that I’m going to get a fancy car. But I have never been able to do it.” 

Read also: ‘We should aspire to have our own Silicon Valley’ – Piyush Goyal (startuppedia.in)

Why investing in a depreciating asset is a bad idea?

According to Gupta, luxury cars are a 'depreciating asset,' meaning their value decreases over time. In the podcast, she elaborated that this is the reason she avoids buying one, despite the urge. Her current vehicle Innova is a practical one for her. 

An important point to learn from Gupta's reference to luxury cars as depreciating assets. Truly, the worth of a fancy car would be lost over time due to factors such as time, wear and tear, or changing preferences.

The podcast gave a good lesson on financial concepts from an eminent personality like Radhika Gupta. She is a role model in the way she allocates her money, and invests in things using financial sense.

While most people buy luxury items to highlight their status symbol, Gupta views fancy things as a burden that will only shrink, rather than grow.

She also opened up cheerfully about using Zomato coupons to save a few rupees.