Advancing female leaders in India’s fast-growing asset management space

National, 18^th April, 2019, Last week, Bloomberg launched the India / South Asia chapter of the Bloomberg Women’s Buy-side Network in Mumbai, an informal community of female leaders and aspiring leaders in Asia’s asset management industry. The first women’s buy-side network of its kind in India, the new chapter aims to mentor 20 women in India’s buy-side industry so they can be future leaders.”There was lots of energy in the room at the launch, and I look forward to the programs and events we will be working on for women in the buy-side,” said Shikha Sharma, who is serving as mentor to the network. Shikha Sharma is currently adviser at KKR India, a board member of Dr Reddy, and former CEO of Axis Bank, India’s third largest private bank.The founding members of the India chapter include Lakshmi Iyer, CIO of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management; Nithya Easwaran, Managing Director at Multiples Alternate Asset Management; and Vibha Padalkar, Managing Director & CEO of HDFC Standard Life.

“The Bloomberg Women’s Buy-side Network in India is a great initiative to further the cause of enhancing women’s participation in the buy-side,” said Lakshmi Iyer. “I am excited to be part of the founding members of this forum to help identify future women leaders, nurture them and enable them to bloom to the fullest. I look forward to an exciting journey.”

“These are very exciting times for the buy-side in India with deepening penetration of investment, emergence of young millionaires, expansion of family offices and stepped up private investing,” added Nithya Easwaran. “I truly believe that women with their innate sense of synthesizing myriad inputs and working in ambiguity make exceptional buy-side professionals. Through the Bloomberg Women’s Buy-side Network, I look forward to interacting with young, driven women leaders who can become thought leaders on the big issues facing the investment industry and role models for attracting more women to the buy-side.”

“This is an excellent initiative by Bloomberg,” said Vibha Padalkar. “It promises to be focused on buy-side women with a view to help create leaders of tomorrow.”

In the months ahead, the India chapter of the network will be introducing a mentorship program for 20 women in India’s asset management industry. Bloomberg has been in India for 23 years and serves local and global buy-side and sell-side firms as well as leading corporations across the India sub-continent.  According to the Association of Mutual Funds in India, assets under management (AUM) of India’s mutual fund industry has grown more than fivefold over the last 10 years, with average AUM at INR 24.58 trillion in March 2019.

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