Though Indian women have a craze for gold, they do not
usually see it as an investment, says many financial planners. Also, among the limited number of women who
take investment decisions in India, most want to keep gold out of the purview
of investment.
Moreover, even in the middle and upper middle class, the
number of women who take to investments is minuscule, says Ms. Renu
Maheswari, Co-founder, Inscholaz, who conducts investment advisory
workshops for women.
Even among working women, only about 20% would be
actively taking decisions as to where and how to invest.
Among them a good majority are single women - spinsters, widows or / divorcees. Wives who
take investment decisions for the family are largely those who earn more than
the spouse. However, their investment decisions are not skewed towards gold.
“Women buy & use gold in jewellery form, but most of
them are not keen to buy gold bars & coins or / gold exchange traded funds
(ETFs) for investment purpose. They do not want to load gold in their portfolio
beyond 5 to 10%. The subdued returns in gold in recent times too have made them
mistrust gold from an investment standpoint,” said Ms. Renu Maheswari.
“Women buy gold as consumption material & they do
not want it to be included in the list of investments," said Mr. Suresh
Sadagopan, Founder, Ladder7 Financial Advisories.
“These purchases are
comparable to men’s buying of electronic gadgets. Women are not too keen on
gold ETFs either,” he added.
Awareness among women in the affluent category about equities
& mutual funds (MFs) is very limited. It takes a little longer to convince
women about the need for different investment instruments.
According to Mr. Sadagopan, the number of women who are
active in taking investment decisions would be less than 20% of the clientele
who approach financial planners. But the numbers would definitely grow in
coming years, with more women joining the workforce and becoming economically
independent.
