< The 2014 All-India Research TeamAshish GuptaCredit SuisseFirst-Place Appearances: 0
Total Appearances: 4
Analyst Debut: 2011Slipping back to third place after a year at No. 2 is Credit Suisse researcher Ashish Gupta. “The Indian economy is showing signs of recovery, and banks, by virtue of their critical role in economic growth, are likely to do well in a recovery scenario,” the analyst believes. In particular, private sector banks — with “adequate capital, healthy balance-sheet liquidity and relatively cleaner asset quality” — are poised to perform well in this environment, Gupta adds. However, although their public counterparts’ stocks have rallied on expectations of a recovery in asset quality, these banks “haven’t fully recognized the problem assets and are underprovided and undercapitalized to meaningfully participate in the demand recovery,” he cautions. One of his favorite names is Mumbai’s HDFC Bank. The nation’s largest retail bank has “used the consumer lending business sweet spot over the past few years to accelerate its franchise investments and build up floating reserves,” the analyst explains, and has expanded its network by some 80 percent over the same period. He also likes IndusInd Bank. The commercial vehicle segment will be one of the early beneficiaries of the country’s economic resurgence, Gupta contends, and the Mumbai-based bank, a major financer for that industry, remains one of the best plays on the recovery in that segment.
RUNNER(S)-UP
Anil Agarwal
Morgan Stanley
Suresh Ganapathy
Macquarie Capital Securities
Vishal Goyal
UBS
Anish Tawakley
Barclays
Rajeev Varma
Bank of America Merrill Lynch