New Delhi, March 5: Mutual fund industry assets during the last year have increased by a staggering 19 per cent with the total assets being managed now standing at approximately Rs 27.85 lakh crore as on January 31, 2020, up from Rs 23.37 lakh crore a year earlier. 352 fund managers manage these assets across all fund houses, showed a report by Morningstar.

But when it comes to gender diversity, the latest findings of the report ‘Women Fund Managers Report for 2020’ showed that of the 352 fund managers, 28 are women who are managing funds either as primary or secondary managers or have oversight as heads of equity or debt.

The total count of women fund managers has marginally dropped from 29 last year to 28 as on date. Interestingly, the total number of fund managers saw a slight increase this year up from 345 managers seen last year. With a meager 8 per cent representation, women still remain drastically underrepresented among the ranks of mutual fund managers. The total assets managed by women fund managers are approximately Rs 3.59 lakh crore, which is 13 per cent of the total mutual fund assets.

Though the total assets managed have gone up from Rs 3.41 lakh crore seen last year, in percentage terms this number has fallen from 15 per cent last year to 13 per cent of the overall industry asset under management (AUM) as of January 31, 2020.

From the perspective of assets managed across various asset classes, out of the total fund assets managed by women of Rs 3.59 lakh crore, approximately Rs 1.45 lakh crore (40.5 per cent) were debt funds, Rs 1.24 lakh crore (34.5 per cent) were money market funds, Rs 0.79 lakh crore (22 per cent) were equity funds and Rs 0.1 lakh crore (2.9 per cent) were allocation funds. This accounts for 17 per cent of all fixed-income assets, 23 per cent of all money market assets, 9.6 per cent of equity assets and only 2.9 per cent of allocation assets.

Scrutinising the data further throws up some interesting bright spots especially related to funding performance.

“Our reports show that of the total open-ended assets managed by women fund managers, 78 per cent of the AUM outperformed the peer group average over one-year basis, 72 per cent over a three-year basis and 90 per cent over five-year basis a feat truly worth commending,” the report stated.