Women have taken rapid strides in every field and profession across the board which includes investing as well. However, they are yet to play a substantive role in financial markets, even though it is not insignificant.
Quarter of Investors are women
Investment platform Kuvera has done an analysis of its 1.6 lakh investors , out of which just over quarter of them are women.
On Kuvera, there are 1.6 million investors, and 26% of them are women. This shows that significant financial literacy initiatives performed by industry participants are having an impact, as opposed to the 19 percent in March 2022.
Gaurav Rashtogi, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kuvera stated,
“We have seen a marginal improvement from last year (19 percent in 2022). While this demonstrates a growing awareness of financial planning among women, we clearly have a long way to go to achieve investing equality,”
Observations on Financial Goals of Women
The findings of this research led to a wide range of observations. These observations were based on
- the kind of cities they reside in,
- the age groups they belong to,
- the types of investments they favour
The research also analysed investors data to understand investing behaviour of Indian women which showed
- 25 percent of women invest for retirement
- 21 percent for buying home
- 14 percent for the education of children
- 14 percent for buying car
- 11 percent for international vacation
- 10 percent for saving tax
30% of all women investors were from the National Capital Region, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, a sign of higher financial awareness among women in Metro cities.
Yet, about 6 out of 10 female investors were from Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, showing that financial literacy is not just limited to top tier of cities.
Age Group
The Kuvera analysis also found that this year’s investors, both men and women, were slightly younger than they were last year. The median age of female investors is currently 33 (compared to 34 in 2022), a sign that younger women are taking charge of their financial lives.
The median age of female investors is higher than that of male investors, indicating that women are more likely to start investing later in life.
Rastogi added,
“The higher median age among women, coupled with 20% smaller avg. portfolio size makes it clear that gender wage difference is real, and it takes longer for women to reach an age when they start feeling in charge of their finances,”
Financial Instruments
According to the research, tax-saving funds continue to be popular among women, with the share of women investing in these funds increasing steadily over the years, from 23 percent in fiscal 2020 to 29 percent in fiscal 2023.
Co-incidentally, the average female investor invests more in ELSS than the average male investor – 29 percent of female investors account for 32 percent of all investments.
Rastogi added,
“Greater market participation from citizens will make our financial markets stronger, drive businesses and the GDP. And women will play a massive role in driving this shift to propel India’s economic transformation,”
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