Women fund managers deliver solid returns

Women are underrepresented in the fund manager ranks globally and it has been no different in India. While gender equality is a topic that’s ever prevalent, women are vastly outnumbered by men in fund-management ranks not only in absolute terms but also relative to other professional industries. The number of women in fund management in India has been gradually going up over the years, but the numbers tell us that we still have a long way to go.

At Morningstar India, we undertook a short study to evaluate gender diversity in the Indian mutual fund industry. In our study, we’ve included women fund managers; both primary and secondary, who have been managing active as well as passive open-ended funds in India. We also included women who headed the equity and/or fixed Income function within the fund house. Further, we looked at the funds and the total assets that each of the individual managers managed and arrived at the total assets that are managed by women in India. This was compared to the total assets under management across all fund managers to arrive at a percentage figure comparison.

Here are the key highlights of the report:

• We found that a total of 24 women managers manages funds either as primary/secondary managers or as heads of equity/fixed income as against 18 last year.
• While the number of women in fund management is up from last year, women managers still constitute only 8% of the industry and cumulatively manage assets worth Rs 30,650 crore, a figure that translates to about 15% of the total assets under management for open ended funds.
• These numbers are below global standards with many Asian countries showing highest representation of women in the mutual fund industry.
• As we dig deeper into the data we find that out of the total assets managed by women fund managers, 61% of the AUM outperformed the benchmark/peer group average over 1-year basis, 81% over 3-year basis and 86% over 5-year basis.
• While most of the fund houses have recognised the importance of diversity and have been hiring women fund managers, however, there is a need to set the tone at the top level so that we can get to parity with men in the mutual fund Industry at a higher pace.