Are there any gender based investments in India? How can women make the most of it?

By nature women are conservative and good at saving money. As a result, compared to men – who are habitual spenders – women have better prospect to invest. However, once the money is saved, the next question is where to invest.

“When it comes to investing, women in India already have a head start over men. Women are much better at saving than men so, that’s half the battle won. The other half can be won by choosing the right instruments to invest in. In India, there are various opportunities now for women to park their funds,” said Vikas Singhania, CEO, TradeSmart.

As saving money is not enough, to ensure that the money saved doesn’t lose its purchasing power and to generate good return, it’s important to invest the money in a productive way as early as possible.

“An important point before looking at the various options is to start saving at the earliest. It is crucial to have a proper roadmap to investing after proper study rather than locking in money in any instrument without understanding,” Singhania added.

But are there any gender based investments? If yes, what is more profitable for a woman investor?

“Almost all investments in India are gender neutral. Women have the same opportunity to invest in instruments as their male counterparts. There are, however, certain schemes that the government has announced for a girl child,” said Singhania.

“The government launched a scheme called the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) which is a small savings scheme for the benefit of the girl child. It is a part of the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana’ and can be opened by parents of a girl child below 10 years of age. The tenure of the scheme is 21 years or until the child marries after the age of 18. The account can be opened at designated banks or post offices,” he added.

While there are no other women / girl specific investment instrument, but, apart from cancer specific plans, women enjoy lower insurance premiums due to lower mortality rate compared to men.

“Apart from this, women get lower rates in life insurance premiums on account of better mortality ratio,” said Singhania.