‘Space sector contributed Rs 20,000 crore to India’s GDP in the last decade’

President Draupadi Murmu visits the Space Exhibition along with Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh and ISRO Chairman S Somanath during the first National Space Day celebrations to commemorate the successful landing of ‘Vikram’ lander on the lunar surface, in New Delhi on August 23, 2024. | Photo Credit: ANI

India’s space sector has directly contributed about $24 billion (₹20,000 crore) to India’s GDP over the last decade. It has directly boosted 96,000 jobs in the public and private sector. For every dollar generated by the space sector, there was a multiplier effect of $2.54 on the Indian economy and India’s space force was 2.5 times “more productive” than the country’s broader industrial workforce.

These “preliminary findings” were part of a presentation by Steve Bochinger, an associated executive consultant at Novaspace, a European consultancy. National Space Day Celebration in New Delhi on Friday (August 23, 2024).

The Space Day celebrations are observed to commemorate the first anniversary of the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on August 23 last year.

Mr Bochinger informed that the report was initiated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the objective of evaluating the socio-economic impact of the space sector from 2014-2023 and the study was conducted by Indian economics research firms Economist and Novaspace. The team interviewed representatives from 56 Indian organisations in the public and private sectors.

“India’s space sector has benefited from decades of consistent investment… it is 8th with $13 billion invested in the last decade^th “This is the largest space economy (in terms of funding) in the world,” Mr. Bochinger said.

The Indian space sector is diversifying and now has 700 companies, including 200 start-ups, and revenues are projected to grow to $6.3 billion in 2023, representing about 1.5% of the global space market.

Satellite communications contributed 54% to the space economy, followed by navigation (26%) and launch (11%). The main industries supported by the space sector were telecommunications (25%), information technology (10%) and administrative services (7%), the report said. The full report and the methodology used were not made public as of Friday evening.

Companies the firm spoke to say India’s progress in space has not yet brought any significant benefits to their own profitability, but winds of change are blowing. “Stakeholders say the space sector has contributed substantially to the country’s reputation, sovereignty and international leadership, but has had less impact on competitiveness, access to new markets, etc. (They say) this is because the space programme has been driven by political considerations over the past decade, but this is expected to change as commercial space is becoming a key priority sector,” Mr. Bochinger said, adding, “The regulatory reforms that have been made have not yet shown their full impact. An underdeveloped venture capital ecosystem is preventing space technology start-ups from accessing capital.”