Out of a total 428 fund managers in the Indian mutual fund (MF) industry, only 42 are women, revealed a report by Morningstar India. These 42 women fund managers manage funds either as primary or secondary managers. Even though the percentage of women fund managers has increased in the last one year from 32 to 42 this year, the total assets being managed by these managers has gone down.

“With a meagre 9.81 percent representation, women still remain drastically underrepresented among the ranks of mutual fund managers,” the report notes.

The 42 women fund managers were spread across 24 fund houses. Five fund houses had three or more women fund managers, six fund houses had two women fund managers while 13 fund houses had at least one-woman fund manager, the report reveals.

When it comes to tenure and consistency, nine fund managers have managed funds consistently for over five years. Five fund managers have been managing funds between three and five years, and 28 fund managers have a relatively lower experience of managing funds below three years.

Also Read | Here's why you should consider including debt funds in your portfolio

The report also suggests that the total assets managed by women fund managers is approximately Rs 4.43 lakh crore, which is 11.19 percent of the total mutual fund assets. Over the last few years, there has been a steady decline in percentage of the assets managed by women fund managers. The Morningstar report on women in the Indian mutual fund industry, said that women fund managers managed 11.98 percent of the total mutual fund assets.

The dip in assets being managed by women fund managers is largely attributed to two prominent fund managers exiting the space. Swati Kulkarni, a veteran fund manager from UTI MF and Lakshmi Iyer, ex- CIO-Debt Kotak MF quit their respective positions in the last one year leading to a decline in the AUM managed by women.

Also Read | Here's what makes dividend yield funds rewarding for investors

On the bright side, the report shows that of the total open-end assets managed by women fund managers, 82 percent of the AUM outperformed the peer group average on a one-year basis, 93 percent of the AUM outperformed on a three-year basis, and 99 percent of the AUM outperformed on a five-year basis.

32.4 percent of the assets managed by women fund managers are from equity categories, followed closely by the allocation asset class at 29.3 percent. This accounts for 13.6 percent of all fixed-income assets, 13.1 percent of all money market, liquid, and overnight assets, 9.5 percent of equity assets, 26.4 percent of allocation assets, and 0.2 percent of other assets, according to the report.

Catch all the latest updates from the stock market here

(Edited by : Anshul)

First Published:Mar 6, 2023 3:01 PM IST