Indian Women Vs Gold Investment

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.

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