THIRD TEAM

Venkatesh Balasubramaniam Citi

Venkatesh Balasubramaniam comes in third; the Citi analyst is also No. 3 in Power. Balasubramaniam presciently downgraded Punj Lloyd from hold to sell in January 2010, deeming the shares overpriced at 222.20 rupees. The engineering and construction company, which is headquartered in Gurgaon, had poor earnings visibility, he argued, owing to its overly aggressive bidding strategy and rising contractor and employee costs. By the end of May 2011, the stock had collapsed to Rs68.15, a loss of 69.3 percent that lagged the sector by 63.8 percentage points. “Venky’s forte is timely company notes in which he is not afraid to express his views,” explains one proponent.