New Delhi :
Buoyed by the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced setting up of a Rs 1,000 crore fund to boost development of space technology.
The announcement was made during the 2024 Union Budget speech in the Indian Parliament and is expected to support more than 180 government-endorsed space tech startups.
“We remain focused on expanding the space economy five times over the next decade and a venture capital fund of Rs 1,000 crore will be set up,” she said.
The announcement came after Sitharaman, in the Economic Survey for 2023-24 tabled in Parliament on Monday, said the space sector has seen remarkable progress in the past few years in building rockets, satellites, spacecraft and ground infrastructure used for space exploration.
“Currently, India operates 55 space assets, including 18 communications satellites, nine navigation satellites, five scientific satellites, three meteorological satellites and 20 Earth observation satellites,” the study said.
New Space India Limited (NSIL) also said it has successfully executed the contract to launch 72 OneWeb satellites into low Earth orbit through LVM3, M2 and M3 missions, establishing LVM3 as a trusted launch vehicle in the global commercial launch services market.
According to the Economic Survey 2023-24, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), a single-stop body for promoting and authorising space activities, has received 440 applications from over 300 Indian companies for authorisation, assistance, facility support and consultancy, technology transfer and facility utilisation as of January 1.
According to the survey, as of January 1, 51 memoranda of understanding and 34 joint project implementation plans have been signed with various non-governmental organizations to expand the support required for the conduct of space activities.
Earlier last year, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) landed Chandrayaan-3 on the moon’s unexplored south polar region, making India only the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon.
