MF sector sees rise in number of women fund managers, finds Morningstar

(Representational image) The world is still bankrolled by wealth, but wealth itself has gone gender fluid. (Image: Brooke Lark via Unsplash)

The mutual fund management space sees an improvement in gender diversity with the number of women fund managers rising to 32 this year from 30 a year ago and 18 way back in 2017.

According to the recently released Morningstar Women Fund Managers Report 2022, the only time this number fell was after the pandemic struck in 2020, when it went down to 28.

This was proportionate to the increase in the number of fund managers in this space, which rose to around 399 from 376 a year before.

With just 8 percent representation still in the fund management industry, the numbers remain bleak and drastically low, leaving much room for improvement and growth.

Fine Prints

According to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) monthly data for January 2022, the Assets Under Management (AUM) held by the Indian mutual fund industry stood at Rs 38.01 lakh crore, with the average AUM of Rs 38.89 lakh crore.

Out of this, women manage about 12 percent, or about Rs 4.55 crore worth of assets, which is a marginal dip from about 13.5 percent of total AUM managed by women in 2o21.

Breaking this down on an asset-class level for their category, at 48 percent, women majorly helmed fixed-income funds totaling Rs 2.19 lakh crore, followed by 18 percent, or Rs 0.81 lakh crore worth of money market funds, liquid, and overnight funds. Only about 25 percent, or about Rs 1.12 lakh crore of these funds were equity-oriented. Allocation and other solution-oriented funds amounted to about 9 percent or Rs 0.39 lakh crore in the complete picture.

In the overall asset management space, this contribution accounted for  24.9 percent of all fixed-income assets (excluding money market, liquid, and overnight funds), 14 percent of all money market, liquid and overnight assets, 8.3 percent of equity assets, 8.1 percent of allocation assets and 7.7 percent and 0.1 percent of the solution and other assets, respectively.

In keeping with the nature of funds managed, nine fund managers have managed funds consistently for over five years. About eight have been managing funds for between two and five years, and 15 fund managers have a relatively lower experience of managing funds below two years.

The report showed that about 69 percent of the AUM managed by these fund managers outperformed the peer group average on a one-year basis. Similarly, 96 percent of the AUM outperformed on a three-year basis and around 69 percent of the AUM outperformed on a five-year basis.