India might unlock an estimated ₹40 lakh crore in GDP potential by enabling larger participation of women in long-term monetary investments, together with equities and mutual funds, a brand new report by Lxme in partnership with EY India mentioned.
The report has launched the women’s monetary prosperity index (WFPI), which scores the nation at 28.1 out of 100, indicating that whereas monetary entry has expanded considerably, women’s potential to construct wealth via investments stays restricted.
Solely 8.6% of women make investments in equities or mutual funds, in contrast with 22.3% of males.
Women start investing 5 years afterward common and begin with practically half the funding measurement of males.
Almost one-third of women choose bodily gold
Fairness and mutual fund investing
A central discovering of the Lxme–EY report is the stark gender hole in participation in capital markets. Solely 8.6 per cent of women make investments in mutual funds or equities, in contrast with 22.3 per cent of males. Women additionally account for only one in 4 mutual fund buyers in India. Even when women start investing, they usually achieve this later than males — across the age of 35 in contrast with 30 for males — and with smaller preliminary investments.
Knowledge cited in the report exhibits that women maintain solely 23 per cent of fairness investor accounts and 25 per cent of mutual fund folios. They symbolize about 28 per cent of registered systematic funding plan (SIP) accounts and roughly 29 per cent of first-time mutual fund buyers. On common, a girl’s first mutual fund funding ticket is about ₹6,500, practically half the ₹12,000 common for males, whereas the typical beginning SIP quantity is about ₹2,300, in contrast with ₹3,800 for male buyers.
These patterns, the report notes, are formed by each structural and behavioural elements. Women have a tendency to start investing later and with smaller surpluses as a result of they typically shoulder family monetary administration and face extra unstable revenue streams.
Financial savings sample
Based on the report, women’s labour power participation stands at 41.7 per cent, far beneath the 78.8 per cent participation charge for males. Consequently, women’s financial savings typically prioritise security and liquidity fairly than long-term progress. The report exhibits that 32.6 per cent of women choose to save lots of in bodily gold, in contrast with 25.8 per cent of males. About 22 per cent depend on put up workplace financial savings schemes and practically 19 per cent save via casual channels corresponding to money holdings, chit funds and self-help teams —double the proportion of males utilizing such devices.
As well as, participation in long-term retirement devices additionally stays low. Solely 14.2 per cent of women maintain pension or provident fund accounts, in contrast with 32.8 per cent of males. General, Indian women maintain solely about 60 per cent of males’s retirement wealth.
Priti Rathi Gupta, Founding father of LXME, identified that women have completely different revenue trajectories, profession transitions and relationships with monetary danger.
“Till we design merchandise, advisory fashions, and funding frameworks that replicate these realities, participation will stay superficial. Actual monetary inclusion for women means reimagining the system, not simply inviting them into an current one,” Gupta added
Based on the Lxme–EY report, drawing on nationwide datasets, an EY survey of 1,033 respondents, and Lxme’s platform knowledge, redesigning monetary methods to higher replicate women’s revenue patterns, danger perceptions and monetary journeys might considerably broaden their participation in capital markets. It will additionally strengthen home financial savings and long-term funding flows, unlocking a possible ₹40 lakh crore enhance to India’s economic system.
Printed on March 6, 2026
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