S Indian women take stock of mkts

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Keywords: Home, Stocks

The history of south India can be traced back to over 2,000 years. However, it was only 50 years ago when the four southern states were created along linguistic lines.

CNN-IBN unveils the changing face of south India and celebrates the Dravidian spirit in a special series The Golden South.

Coimbatore: For 34-year-old Buvaneswari Krishnakumar, a home maker in Coimbatore, each morning like that of millions of other women who do their chores. Buvaneswari likes to watch TV after that. But it’s not TV soaps that interest her, but the stock market.

Bhuvaneswari started with Rs 50,000 a year ago and today aims to make at least Rs 500 each day trading.

“I feel more confident now. If I'm given some money, I can trade profitably and get more returns,” Buvaneswar says.

Buvaneswari is one of the 500 women in Coimbatore, who trade to supplement their incomes.

With the markets reaching record highs, more women are encouraged to come to the fore and invest in the stock market. While some trade over the phone, others visit their brokers’ offices. The increase in brokerages has started women's wings and even exclusive women's branches.

“We're planning to open more women's only branches in other areas also. Each branch has about 50-20 women. So we're recruiting more female staff too. Nowadays women are very shrewd. Compared to men, ladies make more profit and they have passion,” says Regional Manager, Geojit Financial Services, Coimbatore, S K Radhakrishnan.

Family incomes for these women range between Rs two to three lakh a year. Not all of them have permanent jobs, but the money they make from the trading gives them financial independence and the satisfaction of spending their free hours productively.

“Now we are being more cautious. We keep discussing the fundamentals of the company with our friends and those who are more experienced. We read business newspapers and also tips from the TV channels,” says a homemaker, Krithika.

So those little tips go a long way in shattering some age-old myths about south Indian women from smaller towns being traditional and almost always confined to their houses.