India’s space economy has potential to touch $100 billion by 2040: Report

Ahead of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 cruising smoothly in space and is on schedule to reach the Moon by August end, India has the potential to grab a gargantuan $100 billion share of the global space industry, strategy and management consultancy Arthur D Little said in a report released Wednesday.

As per current estimates, India’s share in the global space economy stands at a measly 2 per cent with the government targeting a 9 per cent market share by the decade’s end.

“The Indian space industry is on the cusp of a major transformation with increasing government expenditure on space, rapidly growing investment in the country’s private space sector, and government’s policies encouraging commercial space ventures,” observed Barnik Chitran Maitra, Managing Partner, Arthur D. Little, India & South Asia.

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“India presents a very lucrative market with many opportunities for private players, and the Indian Space Research Organisation is a great ambassador for India in Space,” he added.

In order to achieve the $100 billion industry by 2040, the firm added that India needs to draft and ratify clear and comprehensive regulations for all areas of space, promote foreign investments on satellite establishments, use schemes such as production-linked incentives to make India a manufacturing hub for satellites, set up a ‘sandbox’ program under ISRO for early-stage startups, collaborate withinternational companies under joint ventures, merger and acquisitions, establish dedicated research and development centres for emerging themes in space, and accelerate skill development activities to create a ready workforce.

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ISRO's Chandrayaan-3

Indian Space Research Organisation, which is the world’s sixth largest national space agency, recently launched Chandrayaan-3 on 14 July. This is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.

ISRO's Sun mission

Isro is preparing for its first scientific expedition to study the Sun with Aditya L-1, scheduled for August this year. Aditya L-1 will be Isro's second space-based astronomy mission after AstroSat, launched in 2015.