Women's Day: Tax Saving Funds To Retirement; How Are Indian Women Investing?

Just over one in every four investors is a woman, finds an analysis by investment platform Kuvera.

Data analysis of 16 lakh Kuvera investors found that the number of women investors has improved over last year, indicating better financial literacy among women.

Of the total investors on the platform, 26% were women. This is a significant improvement over 19% in March 2022, indicating various financial literacy activities undertaken by industry participants are showing results, the report said.

Retirement, buying a home and educating a child were the top financial goals of women.

Women investors from the National Capital Region, Bengaluru and Mumbai made up 30% of all women investors in the country, indicating better financial literacy among women in metro cities.

Also Read: Women’s Day 2023: 5 Tips Before You Buy Health Insurance Policy

However, around six in 10 women investors were from tier 1 and 2 cities, indicating that financial literacy among women is not limited just to the top tier towns.

“We have seen a marginal improvement from last year (~19% 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,” said Gaurav Rastogi, founder and chief executive officer of Kuvera.

The analysis also found that the men and women investors got a little younger this year than last year. The median age of women investors is now 33 (vs 34 in 2022), an indication of younger women taking control of their finances.

However, the higher median age of women investors shows that they are likely to begin investing later in life than men.

Insights from gender-wise portfolio analysis revealed that on average, women had a 20% smaller portfolio than their male counterparts.

“The higher median age among women, coupled with a 20% smaller average. 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,” Rastogi added.

Tax-saving funds continue to be a favourite among women as the share of women investing in these funds has shown a consistent and significant rise over the years – from 23% in FY20 to 29% in FY23.

Incidentally, the average woman investor invests more in Equity Linked Savings Schemes than the average male investor, 29% of women account for 32% of the investments.

“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,” Rastogi added.

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