Women distributors rake in the moolah as investors across Bharat say Mutual Funds Sahi Hai

• As the equity cult travels deeper into India, many women are becoming advisors and distributors of financial products.
• Many women who started with nothing today manage AUMs of ₹100 crore and earn trail income of ₹5 lakh a month.
• Large financial intermediaries like NJ Wealth are onboarding more women as distributors as they don’t quit easily and build up the business diligently.

An eight figure salary is almost everyone’s dream, be it newly minted B-school graduates or engineers. But how many Indians – even at senior levels – ever come close to an annual income of ₹50 lakh? That’s what Jigna Alpesh Shah thought before she enrolled as a mutual fund distributor back in 2006. Today she manages assets of more than ₹100 crore in Anand, better known as the milk capital of India. She is a housewife between 6 am and 10 am and a wealth manager after that. Her vocation allows her to wear whichever hat she chooses to wear during the course of the day – which can be that of a mother, housewife or career woman.

As the equity cult travels deeper into India, many women like Jigna have found their calling as advisors and distributors of financial products. Like the services industry, mutual fund distributors like NJ Wealth have also learned that the failure rate of women is very low compared to men as they are persistent and patient. In addition, they don’t easily indulge in misselling just to meet targets. As distributors of financial products, women can choose their workdays rather than adhere to a 9 am to 6 pm grind.

Importantly, distribution is a lucrative vocation as a high performing distributor can easily earn trail income of ₹60 lakh p.a. This is big because merely 3.2 mn Indians are above the ₹5 lakh income bracket and they collectively account for 76% of income tax receipts of the government. In a country where the average annual income of a senior professional in India ranges between ₹18-25 lakh and a senior resident doctor’s annual income is between ₹50 and ₹60 lakh, an eight figure salary is surely a pipe dream for most.

But if you are ambitious, as a mutual fund distributor you can easily earn a trail income of ₹50 lakh or more, provided you are willing to work hard for the first five years. It is perhaps for these compelling reasons that many more women are joining the equity cult, not just as investors but as advisors. Explains Misbah Baxamusa,CEO of NJ Wealth, “We at NJ Wealth found that women need flexibility in their careers and it is hard for them to hold regular jobs. Being a mutual fund distributor can give them the flexibility they need to get started and in addition to that there is minimal investment needed. We believe that the concept of saving and commitment comes naturally to them. Compared to their male counterparts, women don’t quit easily, once they enroll with us. They stick through the process and build up the business. We have several women today who are managing AUMs of over ₹100 crore.” Today, women account for 15-20% of NJ Wealth’s total distributors.

NJ Wealth is focused on enrolling more women as it is a win win for both sides. Compared to industry ratio, it has a much higher ratio of women distributors but Baxamusa feels that a lot more can join the gravy train.



Jigna Shah was a housewife when she moved to Anand in 2002 with her husband. Though she is a BSc graduate, she started dabbling in financial products as an insurance agent. She enrolled with NJ in 2006 and now manages an AUM of ₹103 crore and is the highest AUM holder at NJ Wealth’s Anand branch (Gujarat). She says: “I have seen the journey of mutual fund investments and how it gained momentum after 2008-09. It took me over 10 years to take my AUM to ₹100 crore, but now I am looking forward to doubling my AUM in the next five years.”

What has also helped her growth is the better understanding now that Indians have on building wealth through investments in financial assets unlike the past. Goal based investing has really caught on, she says.



Sourcing customers was a little harder ten years ago, but with social media gaining traction that has also become easy. Sixty-nine year old Dipti Pourana has been distributing financial products for years now, but she says her business hit the fast track after she enrolled with NJ Wealth as her customers refused to invert unless she was their distributor. The technology platform of NJ is immensely user-friendly that makes the lives of distributors very easy. Pourana became the breadwinner after her husband died. Today she manages an AUM of over ₹200 crore. She says: “Client acquisition has also changed over the years. Earlier we used to physically meet people and pay visits to them, but now we source customers through social media as well. Thanks to this business, I was able to raise my family after my husband’s demise. At the beginning of your career as a mutual fund distributor, life can be hard but over the years, the magic of trail commission will kick in.”


The story of Aranpreet Kaur is no different from Pourana. Kaur lost her husband during Covid and since then she has been in the driving seat of their wealth advisory business in Chandigarh.

She along with her husband started their investment and financial services company in 2015. Kaur thinks that women make very good financial planners and advisors as they are adept at managing homes. She says: “The reason why women can be more successful in this business is because they understand the problem and suggest solutions to clients, unlike men who are more focused on selling.”

Kaur’s pet project is to provide financial literacy to young students, who she still teaches in college. She has taken her college lecturer’s role to the next level by conducting classes on investments and savings. She says: “I am a lecturer at SD College but I am very passionate about investing. While I still teach, I also conduct seminars and programmes on investing with students because it is important. I even help my staff at home and office to invest in mutual funds so that they can save for their children’s education.”

NJ Wealth is not only making their investors rich by deploying their hard earned money into financial instruments but are also making their distributors wealthy. NJ has a plug-and-play platform that mutual fund distributors can onboard and get started with seamlessly. They enroll mutual fund distributors on their own platform and provide them with a plethora of services that helps them scale the business. Distributors are encouraged to carry out both physical and digital activities to take the equity cult deeper into India.

Of the total number of ARNs (AMFI registration number) who enroll to distribute funds to consumers, the majority of them are onboarded by NJ Wealth. There are four crore mutual fund investors in the country today but many more distributors to bridge the gap between demand and supply as more Indians take to the equity cult.