Space is becoming an important component of India’s economy, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.
Space StartUps attracted private investment amounting to more than Rs 1,000 crore in this financial year since April, he said while participating in a National TV Conclave here.
“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 Jitendra Singh said ISRO has so far launched more than 430 foreign satellites, earning more than 290 Million Euros from European satellites and over $170 Million by launching American satellites.
He said India has a rapidly rising number of Space sector Startups since Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated reforms in the Space sector. Within a short span of just about four years, the number of Space Startups has gone up from a mere single digit to over 1180, with some of the earlier ones having turned into lucrative entrepreneurs.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has broken taboos of the past by opening the Space sector to public-private-participation. From just 1 Startup in the Space sector in 2014, we now have 190 Space Startups,” the minister added.
Dr Jitendra Singh gave full credit to PM Modi for enabling India’s Space scientists to fulfil the dream of their founding father Vikram Sarabhai by “unlocking” India’s Space sector and providing an enabling milieu in which India’s huge potential and talent could find an outlet and prove itself to the rest of the world.