Chetan Ahya Morgan Stanley The buy side says: “Chetan always gives complete analysis, with dependable objectivity.”

At No. 1 is Singapore-­based Chetan Ahya, who “provides a trustworthy framework for our long-term planning,” declares one satisfied client. In March 2010 the Morgan ­Stanley economist warned clients that the central bank’s slowness in reversing stimulus measures was threatening to spark inflation, which, in turn, would put the brakes on India’s economic growth. He was right. For the three months through March 2011 (the final quarter of India’s fiscal year), the nation’s real gross domestic product slowed to 7.8 percent, nearly a full percentage point less than the 8.6 percent GDP growth in the comparable period one year earlier. Ahya, 42, earned a bachelor’s in commerce and economics from the ­University of Mumbai in 1989 and holds two University of ­London degrees — a postgraduate diploma in economics obtained in 2000 and a master’s in public policy garnered in 2004. He joined ­Morgan Stanley in 2000 from BNP Paribas.