Women share in MF assets rose to 21% at Dec-end: AMFI study

The shares of assets owned by women investors in mutual funds has increased 21 per cent as of last Decemberend against 15 per cent in March 2017.

Interestingly, the share of MF assets owned by women from beyond top30 cities increased to 28 per cent from 17 per cent and that of their folios was up to 18 per cent from 15 per cent during the same period, according to the Association of Mutual Funds in India data, curated by CRISIL.

The report ‘Mutual Growth’ has underscored the significant strides women have made in mutual funds participation.

Almost 50 per cent of women investors fall in the 2544 years age group, versus around 45 per cent for overall set of individual investors.

Goa boasts of the highest share of women in the mutual fund industry at 40 per cent, followed by northeastern States. Chandigarh, Maharashtra and New Delhi also have over 30 per cent share of women in the industry’s assets under management.

Most women continue to invest through the regular plan route in mutual funds and stay invested for longer period.

EMPOWERMENT

The number of women mutual fund distributors has steadily increased, nearing the 42,000 registration mark and they manage asset worth over ₹1lakh crore in AUM as of last December.

Madhabi Puri Buch, Chairman , SEBI said women can champion a paradigm shift where they are not confined by outdated stereotypes, but empowered to thrive authentically and unapologetically in every aspect of their lives, she said.

Navneet Munot, Chairman, AMFI, said, “The increasing participation of women in mutual funds is a testament to their growing economic empowerment.”

As a part of Viksit Bharat journey, he said the industry wants to take this to the next level by conducting more womenfocused investor awareness initiatives, he added.

Venkat Chalasani, Chief Executive, AMFI. said the increase in women distributors, highlights their ability to make financial decisions for themselves and guide others reflecting a growing confidence and financial awareness among women.

Motilal Oswal GAIL INDIA (BUY)

Target: ₹215

CMP: ₹183.20

We visited the Vijaipur plant of GAIL (India) and were joined by senior management from the company. The management highlighted two futuristic projects, which form the cornerstone of the net zero and gas penetration strategies: the first entails a 4.3 tpd green hydrogen project, key to achieving decarbonisation objectives and marking a significant milestone in the company’s pursuit of a longterm target of 20 per cent hydrogen blending in natural gas; GAIL also highlighted the small scale LNG project (SSLNG), which the management believes would be instrumental in improving LNG availability in underpenetrated areas.

We remain positive on GAIL as the capex cycle unwinds. The company has continued to explore new avenues for investments such as green hydrogen, SSLNG, and even coal to gas/chemicals. During FY2426, we are modeling EBITDA to report a 14 per cent CAGR, driven by: rising natural gas transmission volumes to 141 mmscmd in FY26 from 121 mmscmd in FY24; substantial improvement in the profitability of the petchem segment over H2FY25FY26, attributable to the commencement of operations of new petchem capacity and heightened demand driven by low global inventories; and the commencement of operations for 3,892 km of gas transmission pipelines and 560ktpa of petchem capacity. At around 11x FY26 P/E and the current dividend yield of about 2 per cent, we believe valuations remain reasonable.

Emkay Global ETHOS (BUY)

Target: ₹2,850

CMP: ₹2,752.40

Moats and macros are weaving favorable tales for Ethos, given visible growth outperformance and upside from the signed Trade and Economic partnership agreement (TEPA)/rampup of ownbrand Favre Leuba (FL). The signed TEPA offers elimination of the 22 per cent custom duty gradually, in 7 annual instalments.

We believe most of the benefits should be shared by retailers and brands, as consumer pricing is broadly akin to global pricing. Our bear/bull case analyses suggest 20/50 per cent target price upside. Along with this, rampup of FL on target lines (35 per cent CAGR) has potential to raise our target price by another 10 per cent. As regards execution, outperformance is continuing as Ethos has noted about 30 per cent topline growth in 9M vs. sub10 per cent for other categories like QSR, Apparel, and Footwear. Ethos has also provided bestinclass mediumterm outlook of 25 per cent topline CAGR, backed by share gains in new watch retail and faster growth in preowned/other luxury categories/FL.

Increase in GST slab from the current 18 per cent could partly offset gains from the custom duty reduction. We retain Buy.

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