The participation of women investors in mutual funds has increased with significant growth in the past five years. As per the report by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), women now account for 33% of the total individual investor’s assets under management (AUM) as of March 2024.
In terms of amount, the total mutual fund investments rose to Rs 11.25 lakh crore in 2024 from Rs 4.59 lakh crore in 2019. This kind of paradigm shift towards financial independence and wealth building among women shows, that now they become more cautious while choosing the right instruments for investing.
Women Investors in Mutual Funds
As per the AMFI report, women now hold Rs 33 out of every Rs 100 invested in mutual fund schemes. As per the reports, as of March 2025, the total number of mutual fund investors in India stood at 5.34 crore out of which 1.38 crore are women investors, which accounts for 25.73% of the total investors.
While the women investors in mutual funds in the metro cities (T30 cities) dominate with 75% of women’s AUM. While the share of women investors in B30 cities surged from 20% in 2019 to over 25% in 2024. And the report says, that women investors hold their investments in mutual funds for longer periods compared to male investors, which shows women believe more in keeping their investments for longer periods.
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Why should Women Invest in Mutual Funds?
Women can choose from multiple investment options available in the financial market, and mutual funds could be one of the best ones that can give them various advantages over other investment schemes. However, investing in mutual funds could be one of the good decisions for anyone. But women can pick this one on the basis of various reasons some of which are discussed below.
A Diversified Investment
The corpus of funds collected from the investors under the mutual fund schemes is invested in various securities like equities, bonds and other assets like bullion or fixed-income securities. Apart from that funds are invested through equities into different sectors and industries of the economy.
This kind of well-diversified investment scheme provides women with an opportunity to invest their money in different promising sectors and investable securities to get a balanced and stable return.
Backed by Market Experts
The market experts who have expertise and experience in investing in various financial instruments manage these funds. And these market experts keep an eye on the funds’ performance and keep adjusting or reshuffling asset allocation as per the change in the market conditions.
Different types of fund managers are assigned to different types of mutual funds as per their expertise in managing different classes of securities to ensure the highest returns on such investments and minimize the impact of various types of risks that can affect the performance of funds.
Multiple Investment Options
Women can find here multiple types of investment options like open-ended funds, closed-ended funds, equity-linked saving schemes, debt funds or hybrid funds as per their investment goals and risk-taking profile while putting their money into such schemes.
Women with low-risk profiles can choose debt funds or hybrid funds, while equity related funds are suitable for women with high-risk profiles who expect a higher rate of returns from stock market.
Ease and Accessibility of Investing
One of the best things about investing in mutual funds for women is, that they can start with a low amount of money and can choose to invest either regularly through systematic investment plans (SIPs) or through lump sum amounts as per their ease and accessibility.
In mutual funds, women can start with Rs 500 through SIPs and further can choose any amount as per their capability to pay the instalments. And open-ended funds offer them an opportunity to enter into the schemes anytime as per their feasibility with the option to exit or withdraw from the scheme after the end of the lock-in period. Or they can also choose to invest a lump sum amount into the closed-ended funds.
Tax Benefits
Working women looking to invest in mutual funds can also get deductions on their tax liabilities if invested through specific schemes. If they choose to invest through the Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS), they can get a Tax Deduction of up to Rs 1.5 lakh Under Section 80C.
However, the profit earned from investing in ELSS is subject to tax liability under Long-Term Capital Gains (LTCG) Tax at the rate of 12.5% if their income exceeds Rs 1.25 lakh in a particular financial year, but still offers an opportunity to reduce their tax burden by investing in such schemes.
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How Women should Start Investing in Mutual Funds?
Though, there is no particular age or timing to start investing in such schemes. Working women can start investing when they earn enough to save money from their income. Working women can choose SIPs to keep investing regularly from their income to ensure the continuity of instalments.
While housewives who don’t have regular incomes can choose closed-ended funds or debt funds to invest, lump sum amounts from their saved money. They should choose the low-risk and stable return funds to ensure that they get the fixed income from their investments. To start investing, woman should follow the below given investment guidelines to get the maximum benefits from such investments.
Define Your Investment Goals: Before you start, you need to define your goal and why you are accumulating these funds, for your education, marriages, kids’ education, buying a house, emergencies or just to create wealth for your family. It will help you to decide how much and how long you should invest to meet your goals.
Evaluate the Risk Tolerance Capability: Assessing you’re risk appetite before starting to invest in such funds is very important for selecting the right investment scheme. If you are a high-risk taker investor, you can invest in equity-linked schemes to get high returns, while for a low-risk profile, women can go with debt or hybrid funds to get balanced and stable returns from mutual fund investments.
Choose the Right Fund House: To get the best returns from such investments even in various market conditions here you need to choose the right fund house giving the best performance in the market. Before choosing the funds and AMCs check their fund’s past three, five and more years of performance or compare them to get an idea of which one is best and suitable for you as per your investment goals.
Consult a Financial Adviser: If you don’t have an idea how to choose the right fund and a fund house, you can consult a professional financial adviser. These certified financial advisers will help you to pick the right one as per your investment goals and risk profile to ensure you can get the best returns from your investments.
Review and Monitoring of Funds: Investing in mutual funds means you also need to remain active and cautious about your investments, as there could be unexpected turmoil in the market or the market could be volatile due to unfavourable economic conditions. Here you need to keep monitoring your funds and keep adjusting the investments as per the changing market conditions.
Conclusion
Over the past few years, the share of investments of women in mutual funds rose significantly showing the interest of Indian women in such investment schemes. And owing to working-class women in the top 30 cities, their dominance in these cities is high compared to other cities. However, B20 cities have also shown significant growth in the past few years, with a higher interest in long-term investment schemes.
Women should invest in mutual funds, as it offers a diversified portfolio, multiple investment options, and ease of investing with tax benefits. But before you start investing define your goals, evaluate your risk appetite and choose the right fund with a regular monitoring strategy to get the best returns. Consulting an investment adviser or a broking house can help you achieve your financial goal through mutual fund investments.
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