Multi-bagger

A multi-bagger is a stock that has delivered returns of 100% or more — multiplying the investor's original capital by two times or greater — making it a defining objective for growth-oriented Indian equity investors. The term was coined by Peter Lynch in his book 'One Up on Wall Street' — a 'bagger' representing a 100% return (doubling of capital), so a 10-bagger returns 10 times, a 100-bagger returns 100 times the original investment. India's equity market has produced exceptional multi-bagger stories — stocks like Avenue Supermarts (D-Mart), Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, Titan Company, and Eicher Motors delivered 20x to 50x returns over 10 to 15-year periods for patient investors. Multi-baggers are typically identified in hindsight — prospectively identifying them requires finding companies with durable competitive moats, large addressable markets, high return on capital, strong management, and stock prices not yet reflecting their long-term growth potential. In the Indian mid-cap and small-cap space, where institutional coverage is thinner, well-researched individual investors have historically had an advantage in identifying future multi-baggers before institutional capital flows in. The SEBI-mandated 'multibagger stocks' screener on NSE and BSE provides lists of stocks with the highest historical returns — though past multi-bagger performance does not guarantee future returns, and many high-return stocks are accompanied by high volatility and risk of permanent capital loss.