Aiming to identify and bridge the trade gaps between India-Australia economic relationship, Australia’s University of Wollongong and Tat Capital, an Indian-Australian corporate advisory firm, has set up the Tat Capital-UOW Global Finance Centre of Excellence.The centre will operate from Australia and help assist in the development of the GIFT City financial markets and India-Australia trade relationship through cutting-edge academic research.
It will also provide infrastructure, including data and computing facilities, for Indian academics, as well as develop research infrastructure focused on India using data from the stock exchanges based in GIFT City, as well as supercomputing facilities. UOW and Tat Capital will offer two PhD scholarships focused on finance, as well as provide access to mentorships to nurture the next generation of fintech leaders.
Ram Gorlamandala, Founder & CEO, Tat Capital, said, “The research done by the centre will help us understand how both the countries can come together and do trade with each other. This research is necessary because most of the Australian high growth startups and high growth listed companies do not have their research centres in India while those from North America or Europe have their research centres in India. This results in inadequate information about the markets and missed trade and collaboration opportunities between both the markets.”
Gorlamandala told FE, “Indian industries believe Australia to be a small market (based on the consumer/population size) but they do not think about the difference in the per capita Income of both the countries. India’s per capita income is around $ 2,500 against Australia’s more than $ 64,000 which means that Australia has a very wealthy consumer market. The other significant thing is the deep pension fund market of Australia. The compulsory contribution to the pension funds in Australia makes a very big pension fund that is, at present, valued at around $ 3.5 trillion.
According to estimates the size of the fund is going to be more than $ 10 trillion in the next 40 years. I think It will help both the countries if India taps into this pool of super ambition money.”
“The lack of collaboration between both the markets can be understood by the fact that Australia’s largest Sovereign Wealth Fund, AustralianSuper (more than $ 380 billion Assets Under Management), invested $ 1 billion in India just two years back, the largest ever investment by an Australian wealth Fund in India. Our research will help both the countries bridge that gap in between so that Australian players can participate in the Indian growth story”, said Gorlamandala.
He further said, “This research centre will use research to educate core stakeholders and will help create collaboration opportunities between the markets. 45,000 students, an alumni base of more than 180,000 of the University of Wollongong and industry participation will create a domino effect of information and stakeholder collaboration. This is kind of a public private partnership as UOW is a public university and Tat Capital is a private entity. We are coming together to bring the industry and academia together and GIFT will play a vital role in this journey.”
