Women’s Day! Over Rs 3 lakh cr riding on women fund managers; who is your favourite?

Women are under-represented 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 even current numbers tell us we still have a long way to go, said a report authored by Morningstar India.

Morningstar India undertook a short study to evaluate gender diversity in the Indian Mutual fund industry. In the study, they included women fund managers both primary and secondary, who have been managing active as well as passive open-ended funds in India.

The statistics revealed a total of 24 women managers manage 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 percent of the industry and cumulatively manage assets worth about Rs 3.2 lakh crore, a figure that translates to 15 percent of the total assets under management for open-ended funds.

The total assets managed by the women managers have recorded an increase in terms of absolute numbers, as against Rs 2.3 lakh crore last year, but in terms of percentage of overall assets, this number remained in the same ballpark as last year.

These numbers are below global standards with many Asian countries showing highest representation of women in the mutual fund industry.

In the study, Morningstar India also observed that women managers have generated solid returns within their peer groups. 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.

Thus, over the long term funds managed/overseen by women managers have delivered significant outperformance versus peers, highlighted the study.

Some women fund manager’s ignored the noise around and proved that career progression isn’t dependent on the gender.

Leading the chart of the Fixed Income is Lakshmi Iyer – CIO (Debt) and Head of Products at Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Co. Ltd, Bekxy Kuriakose – Head- Fixed Income at Principal PNB Asset Management Co Pvt Ltd, Sunaina Da Cunha – Fund Manager at Birla Sun Life Asset Management Co. Ltd and Anju Chhajer– Senior Fund Manager at Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management.

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.

Let’s take a look at top women fund managers:

A look at some Women Fund Managers

Anju Chhajer:

Anju Chhajer is an experienced manager, managing funds since October 2009 and has an overall experience of 15 years on the fixed income side. Anju has been with Reliance Nippon Life AMC for the past ten years and has been managing ultra-short-term and liquid strategies.

Since Anju took the helm, her funds have outperformed the category average by a wider margin on a risk-adjusted basis. She monitors the macroeconomic environment as well as the monetary policy drivers to ensure that client portfolios are positioned with the most optimal instruments to meet their return objectives for specified risk levels.

Anju’s overall emphasis is on building the portfolio with safety and liquidity, which is achieved through disciplined risk-controlled investment process. Broadly speaking, the funds managed by her have shown a phenomenal track record, reinforcing her credentials as a competent fund manager.

Lakshmi Iyer:

Lakshmi Iyer is the woman fund manager who stunned with her investment style and shattered the glass ceiling in the mutual fund industry. Where men still dominate the field, Lakshmi is the head of Fixed Income and doubles up as the Head of Products.

She has been with Kotak for the past 17 years from April 2000. She had a hands-on experience on fund management and her contribution gives the team an edge. She runs a team-based approach which follows an inclusive culture that fosters the collective input of investment specialist closest to the source of investment information.

Her capabilities in the understanding macroeconomic environment and adapt to change her view based on the environment has resulted in the funds delivering above-average returns across market cycle and remaining in the top quartile.

Roshi Jain:

Whether a global fund, a sector fund or a flexicap fund - portfolio manager Roshi Jain is adept at managing funds from across the spectrum. Being a part of one of the most revered fund houses and trained by some of the best fund managers in the Indian Mutual Fund Industry, Roshi has made a name for herself in the fund management space.

She is an old hand in Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund having joined the fund house in May 2005 as a research analyst tracking infrastructure and engineering sectors. She gained considerable experience as a research analyst which she uses to good effect in managing funds. Needless to say, she is well ingrained into Franklin’s philosophy and benefited from the encouragement her male mentor - Siva Subramanian.

Were women tend to want to be more conservative while managing the fund Roshi runs fund house’s one of the most aggressive investment which entails taking aggressive stock & sector calls, taking contra bets and as a result constructing a relatively concentrated portfolio.

Despite the aggressive bias, she has managed to capture the downside well and is being ranked among the top ten Equity fund managers in the industry as per the ET Wealth- Morningstar Manager Rankings 2017.

Sohini Andani:

Sohini Andani is recognized for being an extremely efficient stock picker in addition to her acknowledged capabilities on the research front.

Her ability to manage funds that range across the market cap spectrum with a consistent approach stands out about her style of management. Andani joined SBI in 2007 as the Head of Equity Research and played a pivotal role in setting up and training the new research analyst team at the fund house after it went through a flux in the 2008-2012 periods.

Her bent on research, focus on bottom-up stock picking and investments in her high conviction ideas have been impressive. She continues to track the IT and banking sectors in addition to her role as a fund manager.

She is known to be a prominent name in the fund management space and is amongst few celebrated women fund managers who have carved a niche for themselves in the investing world. In fact, she was twice named as the top ten best-ranked Equity managers in the industry as per the ET Wealth- Morningstar Manager Rankings, published in 2016 and 2017.

Swati Kulkarni:

Swati Kulkarni is one of the most experienced fund managers in the Indian fund industry and has impressed with her stock selection capabilities and disciplined investment approach. She got into fund management at a time when the industry was in a nascent stage and underrepresentation was striking in comparison with other types of jobs that required similar levels of education.

A seasoned manager, Swati has been associated with UTI AMC for the last 25 years. Swati has managed a variety of funds and has executed the process across various market conditions with a high degree of success.

Traces of a “buy and hold” approach is evident in her investment style. She places more emphasis on identifying quality stocks with good corporate governance standards.

Having said that, she is not averse to mid-cap stocks and focuses on high return on capital and huge cash flows. She is acknowledged as a competent fund manager who has impressed not only her excellent long-term track record but also as a good steward of fund shareholder’s capital.

Sunaina Da Cunha:

Sunaina Da Cunha is a Fund Manager at Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC and has over 13 years of experience. In the highly competitive mutual fund industry, Sunaina has made her mark with her aspiration, not allowing gender disparity to come in her way.

What makes her even more special is that she has attained tremendous responsibility at a young age. She manages INR 714 billion, highest among the other women fund manager.

Prior to joining the AMC, she worked at Aditya Birla Management Corporation as a Group Management Trainee. The key to her success has been her focus on consistency in performance with emphasis on safety and liquidity.