Bourses attract fancy of housewives, students

After the usual gossip and discussions on jewellery and designer clothes, the talks veer around the hitherto uncharted territory of IPOs, demat accounts, BSE and NSE indices and what shares to buy.
As the stock markets boom, housewives and even some college students are taking interest in the markets and some of them are managing their portfolios well too.
"There is a feeling among youth and housewives that they too should invest. Call centre employees, who earn a good salary, easily invest up to Rs 5,000 per month in mutual funds (MFs). Housewives, too, invest in small if not big amounts," says Dwij Seth, assistant vice-president online, India Bulls.
"You can attribute the awareness among the housewives to channels like NDTV Profit or 'Awaz' or CNBC," says Ravinder Seth, managing director, Elite Stock Exchange Ltd.
"If 50 per cent of the housewives watch the saas-bahu soaps on the television, there are 50 per cent watching the programme on the economy," he adds. Agreeing that there is increased interest among women in investments, he says that if three years ago, 10 out of 100 queries his company was receiving on investment were from women, the number has gone up to 30 out of 100.
"Housewives have come out of kitchens and engaging themselves in various vacations like direct sales, event management. They are earning money and contributing to the household income," says Raju Vyas, Chartered Accountant. And as they start earning money, they want it to be managed in intelligent way, he says.
The formula is simple in such families, says Seth. The husband's income goes in to day-to-day expenses. What the wife earns goes into investment, he says. In years to come, every family would require a family financial consultant as there used to a family doctor, Seth says.
Pratibha Rai, a professor in business management says women indeed are coming out of their kitchens. Not many, however, are dealing directly in investments, but are using advice given by experts, she says.
"I was getting almost nothing from my bank savings. But then a suggestion from a friend I met at a kitty party made me invest in the market. I have now invested in three mutual funds and also have taken IPOs of some companies," says Geeta Sujeet, a housewife in the capital's Sarojini Nagar locality.
Industry experts point out that there is a growing trend among youngsters and housewives who till very recently busied themselves with sundry chores around their homes to invest in the markets.
Gauri Kapoor, another housewife, used to invest in banks and fixed bonds. But when she came to know about faster returns in stock market through her 'kittie party friends', she took a piece from her savings and invested in the market.
Faced with the knowledge about volatility of the market, small investors are putting their money in equities, mutual funds, Kisan Vikas Patriks, Post Office Savings and many more such schemes.
"Small investors are now playing a greater role because of the booming economy, sustained bull-run at stock exchange and the healthy increase in trading volumes at the national exchanges, says Sunil Thakkar, relationship manager, Kotak Securities.