Billionaire data centre operator Robin Khuda has called on Australia’s $4.5 trillion superannuation sector to invest in India, arguing the country’s scale and momentum made it a compelling long-term opportunity.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew into Melbourne on Wednesday night for a two-day visit, which includes meeting 20 Australian chief executives with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Khuda, who met Modi last month to announce that he would spend $US30 billion ($43 billion) on Indian data centre projects by 2030, said Australian super funds are woefully underinvested in India.
“They are hungry for private capital,” the AirTrunk founder said. “Australian superannuation funds remain significantly underexposed to India despite its extraordinary long-term growth potential.”
Paul Schroder, head of the country’s largest superannuation fund, AustralianSuper, will meet Modi at the Australia-India CEO Forum hosted by the Business Council of Australia on Thursday. BHP’s Australia president Geraldine Slattery, GrainCorp CEO Robert Spurway and Sydney Airport chief Scott Charlton will also attend the meeting at the Sofitel.
Khuda, who sits on the board of the BCA, helped set the agenda for the meeting but won’t be attending as he is overseas.
“Our experience has shown that India is not simply a compelling market, it is an outstanding place to invest when you take a long-term view,” he said.
“We should make it easier for capital to flow in both directions. Faster approvals for bilateral investments and greater regulatory co-ordination would unlock more investment, more jobs and stronger economic ties.
“There has never been a better time for Australia to lean into India’s momentum, optimism and scale.”
Modi was greeted by Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and federal Housing Minister Clare O’Neil at Melbourne Airport on Wednesday night. It is his first visit to Melbourne, home to Australia’s largest Indian population, in over a decade.
Modi and Albanese will attend a separate Australian-India business reception immediately after the CEO Forum. They will also meet with Governor-General Sam Mostyn.
On Thursday evening they will attend a community reception at Marvel Stadium in front of a crowd of up to 30,000 for a two-hour show billed as brimming with colour, pomp, ceremony and music to rival any Bollywood production. Modi and Albanese will meet with cricket and AFL bosses at the MCG on Friday for a sporting announcement, before the Indian prime minister flies home.
Speaking to the Financial Review ahead of the CEO forum, BCA chief Bran Black said the opportunity for Australian businesses in India was enormous. “This is an economy growing at 6 per cent a year, on track to be the world’s third largest by 2030, with a middle-class set to hit 600 million by 2035.”
He predicts greater investment by Australian financial institutions and superannuation funds into India, including on infrastructure.
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia estimates the $4.5 trillion sector’s exposure to emerging markets is less than 5 per cent, with India estimated to represent only a small percentage of that.
In his address to the forum, Black will point to trade between the two countries of $50 billion, two-way investment of $70 billion and that India is projected to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030. But he will note while India is our fifth-largest trading partner, it is only our tenth-largest investment partner.
“This forum, like the relationship between our countries, is still evolving, with very clear and enormous scope for growth,” Black will tell the meeting.
He will point to growing ties in education, agritech and superannuation. Australian universities are now operating in India, including UNSW, Deakin and Wollongong.
There will be further talks between the CEOs on five agreed topics: investment, infrastructure and finance; education; agritech; renewable energy, critical minerals and resources cooperation and on growing the digital economy.
GrainCorp’s Spurway is chairing the working group on agritech. Spurway went to India in 2023 to meet Modi with Albanese and 25 CEOs, including Macquarie Group CEO Shemara Wikramanayake, Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott, Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn and Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar. He said the Melbourne meeting builds on those discussions.
“It’s a very fast-growing economy and population, now the world’s largest, and that naturally presents opportunities both for Australia and India and agritech is one of the great opportunities for growth that can be beneficial for both countries,” Spurway told the Financial Review.
Khuda said that AI should be a defining pillar of the trading partnership between Australia and India.
“Hearing from PM Modi and his senior leaders, it’s clear AI should become a defining pillar of the partnership between the two countries – driving productivity, strengthening supply chains, accelerating the energy transition, improving agriculture, creating skilled jobs and building more resilient economies,” he said.
Source: https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/what-australian-ceos-plan-to-tell-narendra-modi-20260707-p60dcs