Women account for only 10% of total fund managers in Mutual Fund industry: Morningstar report

Women account for only 10 per cent of the total fund managers in the mutual fund industry despite a gradual increase in their numbers witnessed in the last few years, a report said on Tuesday.

The Morningstar Investment Adviser India's annual report on women fund managers in the asset-management industry said the total count of women fund managers has increased from 32 last year to 42 now.

Interestingly, the total number of fund managers also saw a healthy increase this year to 428 from 399 last year.

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"When it comes to gender diversity, the latest findings of our report show that of the 428 fund managers, 42 are women who are managing funds either as primary or secondary managers," said the Morningstar report released ahead of International Women's Day on May 8.

With a meagre 9.81 per cent representation, women still remain drastically under-represented among the ranks of mutual fund managers, Morningstar said.

According to the report, there were only 18 women fund managers in 2017, and the number has increased gradually since then. The only exception was in 2020, when there was a minor decrease.

"The 42 women fund managers were spread across 24 fund houses, with five fund houses having three or more women fund managers; six fund houses had two women fund managers while 13 fund houses had at least one-woman fund manager," it added.