Women fund manager still under-represented in Indian MF industry: Report

The latest study by Morningstar India shows that of the 399 fund managers, 32 are women, who are managing funds either as primary or secondary managers or have oversight as heads of equity or debt

The Rs 38-trillion Indian mutual fund (MF) industry continues to be dominated by male fund managers. With a meagre 8 per cent representation, women still remain drastically under-represented among the ranks of mutual fund managers, says the latest study by Morningstar India.

The latest findings of the report show of the 399 fund managers, 32 are women, who are managing funds either as primary or secondary managers or have oversight as heads of equity or debt. Currently, the total count of women fund managers has increased from 30 last year to 32 now.

Interestingly, the total number of fund managers saw a healthy increase this year up from 376 managers seen last year.

“The total open and close end assets managed by women fund managers is approximately Rs 4.55 trillion, which is 12 per cent of the total mutual fund assets. Over the last few years, while the assets managed by women are on the rise, in percentage terms of the overall industry assets, this number has not been something to boast about. Last year, this number was 13.5 per cent,” said the report.

However, over the years there is certainly a rise in the number of women fund managers in the mutual fund industry. When the first report on women fund managers came in 2017, there were only 18 women fund managers. This number increased to 24 in 2018, 29 in 2019, then reduced to 28 in 2020 and again increased to 30 in 2021 followed by 32 in 2022.

The 32 women fund managers were spread across 19 fund houses, with 4 fund houses having 3 or more women fund managers. 4 fund houses had 2 women fund managers while 11 fund houses had at least 1 woman fund manager.

From the perspective of assets managed across various asset classes, out of the total open and closed end fund assets managed by women (Rs 4.55 trillion), approximately Rs 2.19 trillion were fixed income funds (excluding money market, liquid and overnight funds), Rs 0.81 lakh crore were money market funds, liquid and overnight funds. While Rs 1.12 lakh crore were equity funds, Rs 0.39 trillion were allocation funds and the solution and other categories cumulated to Rs 0.02 trillion.

Despite being in minority, women fund managers have managed to give positive returns. The data further shows that of the total open-ended assets managed by women fund managers, 69 per cent of the assets under management (AUM) outperformed the peer group average on a one-year basis. 96 per cent of the AUM outperformed on a three-year basis and 69 per cent of the AUM outperformed on a five-year basis.