Women fund managers handle one-eighth of MF assets

Of them, 93.5% outperform peers over a 5-yr period, shows Morningstar report

Women fund managers handle only ~6.66 trillion, or 12.63 per cent of the assets under management (AUM) for the domestic mutual fund (MF) industry, according to a report by Morningstar Investment Research.

The report said that there has been a sharp uptick of 50 per cent in the assets managed by women, year-on-year (Y-O-Y). There was a drop in the previous year following the exit of two prominent women fund managers.

Most assets — ~2.86 trillion, or 43 per cent—are managed or co-managed in the equity and growth segment.

“Although the assets managed or co-managed by women are increasing, their percentage relative to the overall industry assets hasn't reached a noteworthy level yet. However, on a positive note, the assets in percentage terms did see an increase this year after witnessing regression in the past two years,” stated Morningstar.

There are 42 female fund managers spread across 21 fund houses while the total number of fund houses in India has crossed 40.

As there was no increase in the number of female fund managers since last year, their representation has marginally declined from 9.18 per cent to 8.88 per cent.

According to the report, female fund managers also scored better in performance.

“Our analysis reveals that among the total open-ended assets managed or co-managed by female fund managers, 70 per cent outperformed the peer group average over a oneyear period, 71 per cent outperformed over a three-year span, and an impressive 93.5 per cent outperformed over five years,” said the report.

The report said that five fund houses had three or more female fund managers, five fund houses had two female fund managers, and 11 fund houses had at least one female fund manager.

When it comes to tenure, 10 fund managers are managing funds consistently for five years or more while 25 have been managing for less than three years.