The 2014 All-Asia Research Team: India, No. 3: Ridham Desai & team

Although Morgan Stanley slips from second place on this list to third, it remains one of only two currently ranked firms to boast an unbroken streak of appearances in a single sector since debuting in the 1990s, earning 19 rankings for its coverage of Indian equities since 1996.Ridham Desai’s troupe has grown by three over the past year, for a total of 17 analysts, most of whom are based in Mumbai, he reports, with a couple team members in Hong Kong. Proponents single out the group’s long-standing overweight on Mumbai-based drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries. In May 2013 the researchers reported that the firm’s proprietary survey of international neurologists indicated strong interest in Sun Pharma’s medication for the treatment of epileptic seizures, prompting them to restate their positive view. Late in April the shares were up 30.6 percent, to 622 rupees, and leading India’s broad market by 20.5 percentage points. “They make the deep dives to uncover the not-so-obvious drivers,” asserts one portfolio manager. Desai and his colleagues monitor 130 Indian companies, and going forward they are “overweight technology, telecommunications, consumer discretionary and energy,” he says, and “underweight banks, industrials, consumer staples and utilities.”