# The Ken: Retail investors piled into the unlisted market’s favourite stock. Regret followed

**Published in The Ken**  
*By Tanmay Hardikar · Published 23rd October 2026 · 13 min read*  
*Quoting Mangesh Zope, Founder of Peaceful Loans*

- **The Ken Article:** [Read on The Ken](https://the-ken.com/story/retail-investors-piled-into-the-unlisted-markets-favourite-stock-regret-followed/)
- **Founder's POV on LinkedIn:** [Read Mangesh Zope's LinkedIn Note](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mangeshzope_i-made-a-financial-mistake-i-still-regret-activity-7519324828751773697-7BJK)

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## Founder's POV (From LinkedIn) — Mangesh Zope

> **"I made a financial mistake I still regret, and The Ken quoted this today."**
> 
> I bought Reliance Retail in the unlisted market at around ₹1,200. It rose to nearly ₹4,000. Then the company bought me out at ₹1,362 without my consent or knowledge. That was July 2023. I didn't know a company could suddenly decide to buy back all your shares at whatever price it likes.
> 
> I was given an exit, and I didn't even take it. My experience was shared in *The Ken* in a piece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) listing, where around 70,000 retail investors bought too late to sell in the IPO and sat locked in until March 2027.
> 
> **This is the part I'd want anyone buying their first home to read:**
> 
> I had advisors, but I didn't listen, because I had convinced myself I understood the asset. Anyone buying an asset with opaque pricing for the first time is better off with an independent advisor, and I'm saying that as the one who got it wrong.
> 
> My loss was on paper, and the gains were too, until they disappeared. But with your first home, the money is real, and the cost of a mistake is permanent. It’s the exact same problem with a different asset: you can’t see a reliable market price, sell whenever you want, or control the fine print.
> 
> That's an unlisted share. It's also a ₹3 crore flat. In both, you find out what it's actually worth only on the day you try to sell it.
> 
> *"Where the money isn't transparent, the person who knows least pays. This happens in investing and in home loans."*
> 
> *"Shutting the casino doesn't stop the gambling. You can only learn from someone else's mistakes."*

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## Key Quotes & Highlights from The Ken

> "NSE offers an expensive lesson not to fall for hype. But Mangesh Zope, founder of the advisory firm Peaceful Loans who learnt the hard way with the Reliance Retail debacle, isn’t holding out hope. 'There’s no medicine for greed,' he says."

> "Zope learnt his lesson with Reliance Retail. He bought at about Rs 1,200 and watched his shares climb to nearly Rs 4,000, only for the company to buy him out at Rs 1,362 in July 2023, wiping out almost all his gains. 'I didn’t know a company could suddenly decide to buy back all your shares at whatever price it likes,' he says."

> "Zope puts it more simply. 'Shutting the casino doesn’t stop the gambling,' he argues. 'You can only learn from someone else’s mistakes.'"