I. Women mutual fund managers rare in India.
Women account for only 7% of total.
Women fund managers account for only 7% of the total number of managers in India’s mutual fund industry even though the sector has been in existence for more than 50 years, if one takes into account the introduction of Unit Trust of India (UTI) in 1963. A recent study shows that these numbers are much lower than in other financial centres like Hong Kong and Singapore.
A study by Morningstar, a U.S.headquartered investment research and management firm, shows that there are only 18 woman fund managers out of a total of 269 who manage schemes either as the primary or secondary manager or as heads of equity/fixed income schemes. While the share of woman fund managers is pegged at 7%, they manage 15% of the total assets under management (AUM) of all open-ended funds that roughly translates to Rs.2, 32,000 crore.
This is much below the global standards with women being named fund managers at a relatively higher rate in places such as HongKong, Singapore, France, Spain, and Israel. At least 20% of fund managers are women in these markets considering only open ended mutual fund schemes.
The study shows that women fund managers have been fairly consistent in delivering returns as majority of such schemes have been outperforming their respective benchmark index or the peer group average.
Out of the total assets managed by women fund managers, 80% of the AUM outperformed the benchmark/peer group average over 1 year basis, 71% over 3 year basis and 72% over 5 year basis. This has demonstrated the capability of the women to drive consistent performance through multiple market cycles and remain in the top quadrant.
Some top women fund managers include Swati Kulkarni (UTI Mutual Fund), Lakshmi Iyer (Kotak Mahindra AMC).
II. No economy for women(Source: The Hindu)
In stark contrast to worldwide trends, women in India are being forced out of the workforce.
According to a recent report by the International LabourOrganisation (ILO), India and Pakistan have the lowest rates of women’s labour force participation in Asia, in sharp contrast to Nepal, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia that have the highest, with richer nations like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia falling in between. Moreover, even this low rate of labour force participation seems to be declining. The National Sample Survey found that while in 1999-2000, 25.9% of all women worked, by 2011-12 this proportion had dropped to 21.9%. This is in stark contrast to worldwide trends. Of the 185 nations that are part of the ILO database, since the 1990s, 114 countries have recorded an increase in the proportion of women in the workforce, and only 41 recorded declines, with India leading the pack. So what does this tell us about India’s growth story?
The importance of access
A heartening explanation could be that with rising incomes, women have the opportunity to escape harsh labour in farms and on construction sites, and focus on their families. But a more pessimistic and possibly realistic explanation might be that with declining farm sizes, rising mechanisation, and consequently dwindling labour demands in agriculture, women are being forced out of the workforce. If true, this has serious implications for future policy.
From a policy perspective, two main challenges have to be addressed for augmenting women’s workforce participation rates. First, in view of shrinking farm work, we need to create opportunities for women to move from agricultural to non-agricultural manual work. Second, we must foster a work environment that allows more women, especially urban and educated women, to take up salaried jobs.
Sharing the burden
Few organisations are willing to consider challenges involved in generating a work life balance. Even before the influx of global firms in India, work structures in Indian companies and even the government were highly inflexible. Over the past two decades, these demands have grown. With rising global competition, Indian firms have chosen to follow the American model with demands for extended work hours as well as attendance on Saturdays and Sundays. This creates a time bind for both men and women where something must give.
Work family balance requires increased participation by men in household chores and caring for children. However, workplace inflexibility makes for difficult choices, involving trade offs between investing in careers of husbands vis-à-vis those of wives, often resulting in women taking a back seat and at times even dropping out of the workforce.
The Economic Survey 2016-17 expressed concern that the demographic dividend is already receding, reducing the opportunity for the Indian economy to catch up with its East Asian counterparts. However, the numeric consequences of reducing obstacles to women’s full economic participation far exceed the demographic advantages of having a larger pool of young workers. It is thus high time to talk of the gender dividend rather than the demographic dividend.
III. You can switch from EPF to NPS
Regulator notifies procedure for move
More than eight crore members of the Employee’s Provident Fund can now opt to move their retirement savings to the National Pension System overseen by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) over two years after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had promised such an alternative for employees in the Budget for 2015-16.
The PFRDA notified the procedure for EPF members to transfer their investments to the National Pension System or NPS
Terming members of EPF and Employee’s State Insurance Corporation (which provides medical care to organised sector workers) as hostages, rather than clients, the finance minister had said such workers incomes suffer due to high statutory deductions towards EPF and ESIC.
He had promised to provide employees the option to leave the EPF and opt for the NPS and had also said that employees below a certain level of monthly income could decide if they wanted to stop their own contributions to the EPF. In all, 24% of an employee’s salary is diverted to the EPF as a mandatory retirement saving scheme.
Active NPS account
According to the rules, the subscriber looking to transfer funds from EPF to NPS must have an active NPS Tier-I account, which can be opened either through the employer where NPS is implemented or online through eNPS on the NPS Trust website.
The amount transferred from a recognised Provident Fund or superannuation fund to NPS would not be treated as income of the current year and hence, would not be taxable.
“Further, the transferred recognised Provident Fund/Superannuation Fund will not be treated as contribution of the current year by employee/employer and accordingly the subscriber would not make Income Tax claim of contribution for this transferred amount,” the notification clarified.
While the return on EPF savings this year is expected to be 8.65%, the NPS offers multiple asset allocation options and fund managers for its members to choose from, with varying rates of returns.
The subscriber, either a government or private sector employee, must approach the concerned PF office where their money resides, through her or his employer and request to transfer their savings to an NPS account
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