MFs yet to bet big on women fund managers

The women representation as fund managers in mutual fund industry is abysmally low even as they proved their mettle for taking risky bets in the recent times.

The strength of women fund managers in the mutual fund industry at 30 was just eight per cent of the total count of 376. Of the 24 new fund managers inducted by the industry, only two were women, according to a study by MorningStar Research to commemorate Women’s day on March 8.

Of the 43 mutual funds only 19 have women fund managers and only two of them have more than three women managers. Six funds had employed two women, while the remaining have just one each.

Risky bets

Women investors’ appetite for taking risky bets in new and unconventional assets has gone up substantially. A study by ZebPay, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchange, has revealed that women participation in the exchange has jumped multi-fold in the last one year.

Women participants from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi have been showing interest in Bitcoin, Tron, Ripple, Ethereum and Matic, it said.

Vikram Rangala, CMO, ZebPay said there are ample research to prove that women are better investors than men as they do their research and math better.

“They have a nose for crypto as they know how to contain risk. It should not surprise if they outperform men and become smart investors soon,” he said.

About 90 per cent of women participants in ZebPay are above 26 years while the remaining are in 18-25 age bracket.

The average ticket size of an investment by women in cryptocurrency has now increased to ₹5.7 lakh against ₹3 lakh logged in last March.

MF asset management

The assets managed by women fund managers in mutual funds are about ₹4.11 lakh crore, accounts for 13.5 per cent of the total mutual fund assets of ₹30.50 lakh crore as of January-end, said MorningStar Research.

Interestingly, 80 per cent of assets managed by women has outperformed the peer group on one and three year basis and 74 per cent of assets pipped peers over 5-year basis.

From the perspective of assets managed across various asset classes, out of the ₹4.11 lakh crore of assets managed by women, about ₹1.77 lakh crore was in fixed income, ₹1.09 lakh crore in money market, liquid and overnight funds, ₹1.03 lakh crore in equity, ₹18,000 crore in allocation and solution fund and other schemes accounted for ₹689 crore.