ZestMoney: Gold and FD Emerge As Top Investment Options Among Women

Women have become a major highlight in the saving and investment space of personal finance. Where one is directly hit is the pocket and hence what happens at the personal finance space in the working women workforce is all the more relevant to understand as a trend and also as to which direction the women investment goals are focussed.

ZestMoney is one of India’s largest and fastest-growing Buy Now, Pay Later platform today revealed the findings from a customer survey conducted to understand how women are taking to personal finance and investment decisions. 50% surveyed women save between 25-50% of their monthly income, mutual funds and equities also emerge as best investment picks by women. 80% of respondents have set goal-oriented financial goals for 2022. Savings, safe investments, retirement, and budgeting are among the top personal finance topics that interest women. 46% say they prefer EMIs/Buy Now Pay Later to shop online over debit cards/UPI and credit cards 

The survey was conducted with a sample of 1900 respondents across key metros and Tier II/III cities in India, majority of whom were GenZ and Millennials.

According to the survey, 59% of the respondents prefer to invest in gold and fixed deposits and 31% choose Mutual funds and equities as their preferred investment choice. Recurring deposits, real estate and cryptocurrency were some other go-to options. 

While many studies and surveys look at how men manage their money and investments, this exhaustive survey documents the approach women take to their personal finances. According to the survey, women not only prefer low-risk options but also invest for the long term. About 93% of the respondents in the survey were either full-time employees or self-employed. 

Around 80% of the respondents said that they have set goal-oriented investment targets for 2022, indicating increased awareness among women to take greater control of their personal finance

Long-term investment goals remained a top priority for women with buying a house (25%), securing their kids' future (23%) and retirement savings (15%) figuring top in the list. Purchasing a car, traveling, and wedding were among the other goals. 

Lizzie Chapman, CEO and Co-founder, ZestMoney said, “It is interesting to note the survey findings that many digitally-savvy Gen Z and Millennial women are choosing to save and invest in safe and less risky investments such as gold and FDs. They are also open to investing in mutual funds and equity indicating a larger awareness about financial products. This growing trend of women taking charge of their personal finance will pave the way for their financial independence and inclusion of women in wealth creation. We strongly believe that access to the right information on personal finance can immensely benefit women. We have doubled our efforts over the last year in creating simple, engaging content on personal finances and making it available in vernacular languages too. These are very healthy signs.” 

“Globally we are seeing a trend of the majority of women choosing BNPL over credit cards for simplicity and transparency of pricing. In India, the trend is fast catching up as an increasing number of women choose BNPL to access credit and manage their finances better. Our data indicate that we saw a 143% YoY increase in female customers on our platform last year. This is only expected to grow in the coming years” added Chapman. 

46% of the female respondents choose online shopping as their preferred mode of payment, EMI/Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) for flexibility and transparency. Credit and debit cards, cash on delivery were other popular options. 

Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai emerge as the top metros with the highest number of BNPL transactions by female customers last year. Surat, Visakhapatnam, Gurgaon, Kanchipuram, and Thiruvallur figured in the top tier-II cities’ list. 

Electronics, fashion, and lifestyle were the top categories that women spend on in Tier 1 cities, whereas women in Tier 2 markets spent on EdTech courses and upskilling.

According to the survey, fashion, home decor, smartphones, and travel are the top categories from which the respondents plan to make purchases in the next 6 to 12 months.

When quizzed on their understanding of personal finance, 55% of them said they have a good understanding of personal finances. 

57% of the respondents said they get guidance on personal finance from the internet and newspapers while 26% relied on family to make investment decisions. The respondents also said they hope to learn more about savings, investment, retirement plans, and budgeting. Other topics on which they wanted more information included insurance, personal and education loans, and credit options available in the market. 

ZestMoney is the one of the largest omnichannel Buy Now, Pay Later platforms with 15 Million registered users across the country. It has the largest network of 10,000+ online partners including the biggest e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, MakeMyTrip, Nykaa among others. It is also present at 75,000+ store partners including brands like Apple, Reliance Digital, Croma, Sangeetha Mobiles, Pai International, Pai Mobiles, and Poorvika Mobiles across the country. Being one of the largest.

It is deeply integrated with the largest merchants in India including Amazon, Flipkart and MakeMyTrip, increasing the affordability of their products and helping them facilitate frictionless sales at a higher conversion rate to a larger base of customers. We also have the largest network of merchants with 10,000+ online partners, 75,000 physical stores, making the company a market leader in the space.  ZestMoney has built a platform that integrates mobile technology, digital banking, and artificial intelligence, enabling people to apply for and get a digital credit line within seconds.

The company recently partnered with some of the biggest global brands like Google Pay (enabling people to avail credit on UPI) and Apple to spur the adoption of Buy Now, Pay later solution for the smartphone and tech product category.

ZestMoney has 13 Million registered users and is powering aspirations of people from upgrading their lifestyle to taking that all crucial Edtech course. Over 70% of our customers are in the Tier II and III markets, many of whom are availing formal credit for the first time in their lives. The company's vision is to be the 'one-stop financial' brand of choice for India's 300 mn+ households over the next decade, providing small ticket loans, insurance, savings and other financial products with the most seamless digital user experience. It's innovative technology and work to make affordable digital finance accessible led to their selection as a 2020 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. It was also recognised as the second fastest growing technology company by Deloitte India in 2021.