Rakesh Arora Macquarie Capital Securities The buy side says: “He has a thorough understanding of the industries.”

Rakesh Arora of Macquarie Capital Securities, who shoots straight in at No. 1, makes “gutsy counterconsensus calls,” says one loyalist. Arora, 41, upgraded Hindalco Industries from neutral to outperform in December 2009, at 139.07 rupees, on the Mumbai-­based aluminum producer’s planned capacity increases and low-cost operations, coupled with rising aluminum prices. In November, after the stock had shot up 65.6 percent, to Rs230.25, and led the sector by 53.9 percentage points, he downgraded it to neutral, on concerns about the company’s mounting debt. The share price slid 14.3 percent, to Rs197.35, through May; during the same period the sector fell 13.7 percent. Arora received a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology at ­Varanasi in 1991 and oversaw company strategy at ­Mumbai’s Ambuja Cements before moving to Macquarie in 2006. “He knows the space inside and out,” asserts one patron.