The portfolio management services company, in its report titled ‘Capital Her Future: Women Investors Insights Report’, highlighted five key trends shaping India’s financial landscape and indicated the rise of women as a powerful and increasingly influential investor segment.
Gender equality in Education
India’s gender parity index has surpassed 1 across all levels of schooling, indicating that female enrollment in schools equals or exceeds that of males, the report notes, with female enrollment now exceeding male enrollment in urban higher secondary education.
“This educational dividend is the foundation for all other gains. With the largest cohort of educated women in India’s history entering the workforce over the next decade, the economic consequences will be transformative,” the company said.
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Growing entrepreneurship, financial independence in women
Additionally, India’s female labor force participation rate (LFPR) is projected to rise to 42% in 2024, the highest in three decades. Between 2017-18 and 2023-24, the share of women self-employed or self-employed increased from 20% to 31%, reflecting growing entrepreneurship and financial independence, the report said.
This means that women’s economic participation is shifting from informal and unpaid labor to formal and self-directed enterprise, creating a new generation of economically independent women.
Women are better borrowers than men
Additionally, Marcellus highlighted that urban women are now opening bank accounts and raising deposits faster than men in rural, semi-urban and metropolitan markets. “During FY19-FY25, the growth ratio of women’s bank accounts and deposits was between 1.02x and 1.07x compared to men, boosting financial inclusion among women,” it said in a press release.
This comes as women continue to reflect stronger lending behavior than men. “The gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio (defined as PAR 91-180) for women borrowers was 1.2% by December 2023 compared to 1.5% for men, and 0.8% compared to 1.1% for men by December 2025,” Margist said in a press release, reflecting the lower rates. liberation
Women are still underrepresented in Asset Management
The report states that women are now influencing investment decisions, but are still underrepresented in wealth management. Women now make 56% of financial investment decisions independently. They now account for 25% of all investors and 33% of mutual fund assets in India, Marcellus said, citing data from the AMFI-CRISIL Factbook 2024. However, their participation in formal wealth management is relatively low, especially outside metro markets, indicating a large, untapped opportunity for the financial services industry, he adds.
“The wealth management industry is at an inflection point,” Marcellus said, adding that the next generation of investors in India – young, urban and increasingly educated – will include more women than the present. “Companies that build for this audience today will have a disproportionate share of India’s wealth creation tomorrow,” it added.
“There is a coherent story to be told: Indian women are better educated, increasingly employed, more financially active and more creditworthy than at any time in India’s modern economic history. The implications for financial services, consumer markets and public policy are profound,” the report concluded.
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