The number of women investors in the mutual fund (MF) industry rose to 74.49 lakh at the end of December 2022, against 46.99 lakh at the end of December 2019, according to data provided by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).
Overall, the number of unique investors as gauged by PAN/PEKRN (PAN exempted KYC Reference Number) jumped more than three times, from 1.20 crore at the end of March 2017 to 3.77 crore at the end of March 2023.
The big jump in unique investors has been seen after the Covid-19 breakout ― from 2.08 crore at the end of March 2020 to 3.77 crore at the end of March 2023.
N S Venkatesh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), AMFI, says that nearly 40 lakh new investors came into the MF world last year, despite flat markets.
In terms of age-wise break-up, around 35 percent of overall investors were from 45 years and above age group, while data showed that the percentage share of investors between 18 and 24 years zoomed in the last 10 financial years.
Strong women participation
Data showed that the maximum number of women investors, at 28.45 lakh, belonged to the age group of 45 years and above. Further, 2.82 lakh women investors belonged to the age group of 18 to 24 years of age.
Women investors in the 18-24 age group jumped more than four times since December 2019, highlighting the appeal of MFs among young investors. Compared to that, the number of women investors in the 45+ age bracket grew to 28.46 lakh in December 2022 from 22.13 lakh in December 2019, a growth of a mere 29 percent during this period.
In terms of assets break-up, women investors had Rs 6.13 trillion invested under regular plans of MFs, while Rs 1.42 trillion was under direct plans.
As per AMFI, during the Covid-19 years there was a sharp rise in women investors in both, T30 and B30 cities.
T-30 refers to the top 30 geographical locations in India and B-30 refers to the locations beyond the top 30.
Women investors in T30 cities have grown from 27.95 lakh in December 2019 to 41.67 lakh in December 2022. This is an increase of 13.73 lakh in the last three years.
Under the B30 cities, while 19.05 lakh women started investing in MFs in 2019, this number grew to 32.83 lakh in December 2022.
SIP breakdown
As per the AMFI presentation, there are 6.36 crore systematic investment plan (SIP) accounts active in the MF industry at the end of March 2023.
Of this, 2.39 crore or 38 percent of all SIP accounts, have been active for a period of less than one year, and 1.53 crore accounts for one to two years. Notably, 73.13 lakh accounts have been active for a period of more than five years.
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Further, the highest assets under management (AUM) has been under SIP accounts that have been active for more than five years, at Rs 1.65 lakh crore. This is followed by SIP accounts less than a year old at Rs 1.54 lakh crore.
The overall AUM under SIP accounts stood at Rs 6.83 lakh crore as of March 2023 end.
Additionally, 2.05 crore SIP accounts are under direct plans, while 4.31 crore are under regular plans.