Dr Jitendra inaugurates landmark ‘In- SPACe’ centre to facilitate private investments, StartUps

STATE TIMES NEWS

AHMEDABAD: In a historic ceremony here on Tuesday, Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the landmark first-of-its-kind “In-SPACe” Technical Centre to facilitate private investments and StartUps in the Space sector. He was accompanied by ISRO Chairman, S.Somanath.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jitendra said, India targets a five-fold increase in its share of the global space economy.
“India’s Space economy today stands at a modest $8 billion, but our own projection is that by 2040 it will multiply manifold. But more interesting is that according to some international observers, for example the recent ADL (Arthur D Little) Report mentions that we could have the potential of $100 Billion by 2040,” he said.
Dr Singh said India’s quantum leap in the Space sector has only been possible after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the courageous decision to “unlock” this sector from the “veil of secrecy”.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has broken taboos of the past by opening the Space sector to public-private-participation,” he said.
“Even though talent was never lacking in the country, the missing link of enabling milieu was created under the leadership of PM Modi. With the opening up of the Space sector, the common masses have been able to witness the launch of the mega Space events like Chandrayaan-3 or Aditya,” he said.
Dr Jitendra said, four-five years back, we had just one digit Startups in the Space sector, today we have nearly 200 private Space Startups after opening up of the sector while the earlier ones of them have even turned entrepreneurs. There has been an investment of over Rs.1,000 crore by private Space Startups in the current financial year from April to December 2023, he said.
Dr Jitendra said, even though our Space Research programme started in the year 1969, the year when the US landed first man on the moon, we caught up fast with the Space faring nations and last year Chandrayaan-3 made a historic touchdown on the virgin lunar south polar region where nobody has landed before.
The Minister said PM Modi hiked the Space budget manifold and opened up the Space sector.
“If you see the Space Budget alone, there is a 142% increase in the last nine years,” he said, pointing out that there has been a three-fold or more hike in related budgets like Dept. of Science & Technology and Dept. Atomic Energy.
Dr Jitendra said this is possibly the best time for Innovators, R&D and Startups. PM Modi has delivered the right ecosystem that supports and augments Innovation, promotes entrepreneurship and fosters a thriving industry.
“And this is what has given the outcomes, – a multiple, manifold investment; so there is a huge synergy now between Research, Academia, Startups and Industry,” he said.
Dr Jitendra said, out of the 424 foreign satellites launched by ISRO since 1990s, more than 90% – 389 were launched in the last nine years.
Dr Jitendra said, the government has announced the Indian Space Policy 2023, which enables end-to-end participation of Non-Governmental Entities (NGEs) in all domain of Space activities.
“The role of the private sector in advancing India’s space technology and exploration efforts is undeniable. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre or IN-SPACe was created to support private sector participation in space activities. Various schemes to encourage and hand hold private sector also announced and implemented by IN-SPACe, i.e., Seed Fund Scheme, Pricing Support Policy, Mentorship support, Design Lab for NGEs, Skill Development in Space Sector, ISRO facility utilisation support, Technology Transfer to NGEs,” he said.