5 Top Female Investors in India: Know How They Are Changing the Game

Who says that women and investing don’t pair well? Meet our new-age top female investors in India who are breaking all myths and shattering stereotypes. The Covid-19 pandemic has dynamically changed the rules of the investing game.

With the financial agony that Covid-19 brought into our lives, women needed to generate alternative income sources. Factors like growing economic instability, rising prices,  layoffs, and sinking deposit interest rates stimulated a new breed of female investors in India. Even working from home acted in their favor.

The stock market, which male investors have traditionally dominated, has begun to attract more female investors in India.  Women started investing their savings towards financial assets rather than physical assets such as cash and gold. This is supported by numbers from one of the largest brokerage firms, Zerodha.

Data suggests that in 2021, the number of female investors registered on their platform increased from 3.5 Lacs in 2020 to 7.5 Lacs in 2021, accounting for nearly 16% of its total members. Source: Forbes India

In this article, we will look at some of the top female investors in India. These financial masterminds are changing the investment game and inspiring others to follow in their footsteps. Apart from making money, these smart women investors are making a mark in the investing world with their skills, knowledge, and intuition.

Let’s start our tour to explore the top female investors in India.

The Top Women Investors in India

She is the founder and CEO of Saha Fund, India’s first-of-its-kind venture capital fund for promoting women’s talent.  This 37-year-old shepreneur is also the founder and managing director of StrongHer.

StrongHer Ventures is a platform that aims to create a global billion-dollar venture fund for women. She has also co-invested in multiple startups across Singapore, the U.K., and the U.S. apart from India. [ Source: Economic Times ]

She is the founder and managing director of Kalaari Capital, one of India’s leading early-stage venture capital firms. Thanks to the “Queen of Indian VC,” Kalari Capital ranks in the top quartile in the world, generating steady returns of 3x to 5x to its investors. Vani Kola has been a trendsetter in equity investing, backing companies such as Flipkart, Myntra, Dream11, and Curefit.

Her rise from a conservative middle-class family to a celebrated entrepreneur demonstrates her dedication, inventiveness, and endurance. Her remarkable story should inspire more female investors in India to embrace the complex yet rewarding investment realm. [Source: Forbes India]

Padmaja Ruparel is one of the top female investors in India that we look up to. She is the co-founder and president of Indian Angel Network (IAN), India’s largest and oldest network of angel investors. She is also the founding partner of IAN Fund, a seed and early-stage venture fund that invests in sectors like health care, education, fintech, and agritech.

She has transitioned from being a housewife to handling corporate responsibilities to being an eminent angel investor. IAN boasts of establishing a thriving startup ecosystem in India by assisting over 135 firms in 17 countries, with an internal rate of return of about 32%. Moreover, the incredibly low failure rate of roughly 15% is impressive. [Source: Forbes India Magazine ]

Renuka Ramnath has many accomplishments, including being a Harvard graduate, founding Multiples Alternate Asset Management, and becoming the first female chairwoman of the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA).

Multiples Alternate Asset Management, which she formed, is a private equity firm that has successfully navigated market turmoil caused by the epidemic to generate steady returns for its clients. She has also served as MD and CEO of ICICI Ventures, a specialty alternative asset manager that has risen to the ranks of India’s leading venture capital funds.

With over 30 years of experience in the Indian capital markets, she has invested in companies like PVR Cinemas and Arvind Fashions. She is on the list of top female investors in India. [Source: Fortune India]

Lakshmi Iyer, chief investment officer (CIO) at Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Co. Ltd, has been awarded one of Asia’s top 25 most significant women in asset management. Lakshmi has had a strange obsession with numbers from childhood, which she attributes to her rise to the list of top female investors in India.

When fintech was a new term to many, Lakshmi Iyer started tracking bonds and found her love in decoding the mystic relationship between finance and technology. Lakshmi Iyer has over 30 years of experience in venture investing, marketing, and financial services.

She is known for her depth and width of knowledge of the equity markets and her DIY approach to investing. She has a unique approach to investing, which focuses on the issuer’s quality, the instrument’s liquidity, and the security’s yield. She is one of the role models for aspiring female investors in India. Source: CIO Journeys, Bloomberg ]

Though we have several well-known female investors in India, the participation of women investors remains low.

Reasons for Low Participation Of Female Investors in India

Let us first figure out what prevents women from engaging in the investing scene-

Fear of being judged: Investing has long been a male niche, particularly in equity. Female stock investors in India face a lack of support from peers and family. Women are afraid of being judged for every financial decision they make. Mistakes are inevitable in this game, but women are often demotivated by every bad choice they make. They are not rewarded or motivated for the victories they achieve.

Gender Gap in Financial Inclusion: In India, women’s financial literacy is at an all-time low, though the numbers have improved. According to a Humanity Welfare Council poll, about 62% of women in India lack access to basic financial services. Furthermore, about 80% of Indian women lack financial awareness. So, a lack of financial and tech literacy widens the gender gap between male and female investors in India.

Pressure to Manage Multiple Roles: Female investors in India struggle to juggle their domestic and professional responsibilities. Women have to manage multiple roles in their personal lives, such as being a mother, a wife, a daughter, and a caregiver. On their professional front, challenges are no less. This adds to stress and exhaustion for women at times. Especially if they do not get enough support from their families.

Female Investors in India vs Male Investors: Difference in Investing Approach

Approach	Female Investors	Male Investors
Risk appetite	Women are behaviorally more risk-averse and conservative than male investors. Female investors in India prefer investing in safer and less volatile asset classes.	Male investors tend to be more risk-seeking and aggressive, opting for higher-risk and higher-return investment options.
Investment goals	Female investors in India tend to have more long-term and specific investment goals, such as retirement, children’s education, or home purchase.	Male investors tend to have more short-term investment goals, such as wealth creation or beating the market rather than generating stable returns.
Investment behaviour	Female investors in India tend to be more patient and disciplined in their investment decisions, sticking to their plans and avoiding frequent trading.	Male investors tend to be more impulsive and overconfident in their investment decisions, chasing trends and trading more often.

Top Female Investors in India Share These Three Qualities

1. Discipline and Patience – These women investors are more patient and rigorous in their approach than men. They take less risky steps and calmly hold on to their investment for the long term, unaffected by short-term gains or losses.
2. Cautious Investors– In India, women investors prioritize capital preservation above capital appreciation. To do this, they invest in less risky or short-term gains but more stable investments that provide consistent returns over longer periods.
3. Willing to Learn from Mistakes – These acclaimed women investors in India are unwavering and willing to learn from their failures and accomplishments. No investor can claim to have never lost money. Women investors prefer seeking advice from their peers or experts rather than blindly following market trends.

Key Takeaways

In this article, we learned how female investors in India are playing a vital role in shaping the future of the investing and startup ecosystem. They are making smart and profitable investments and positively impacting society by supporting women-led startups and inspiring other female stock market investors in India.

According to a recent survey, women between 18 and 25 are three times more likely than males to invest in a high-risk, high-return asset class such as equities rather than traditional options such as fixed deposits.

Padmaja Ruparel, Ankita Vasishta, Nita Mirchandani, and Vaani Kola are among the top female investors in India, having sponsored some of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs and demonstrating their decision-making acumen over time. There is a need to create a more inclusive and diverse environment for female investors in India to boost economic growth and achieve financial gender equality. [Source: Inc42]

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