BENGALURU: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a Rs 1,000 crore fund to boost the country's space economy.
"With our continued emphasis on expanding the space economy by 5 times in the next 10 years, a venture capital fund of Rs 1,000 crore will be set up," she announced in her budget speech.
Start-ups in the space sector say this will help entrepreneurs and will boost the growth of the sector.
Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner of Speciale Invest, which has been investing in space start-ups, said, “The Indian space economy has the potential to reach USD 44 billion in the next 10 years from the current USD 8.4 billion, expanding India’s share of the global space economy by 4 times from current 2 per cent to 8 per cent. We strongly believe that a Rs 1000 crore fund for space start-ups and space economy will catalyse India's dominance in the global space market.”
Speciale Invest's portfolio includes investments in launch vehicles (Agnikul Cosmos), satellite manufacturing & earth observation (Galaxeye Space, Kawa Space), communication (Astrogate Labs), and in-orbit economy (InspeCity).
Srinath Ravichandran, Co-Founder and CEO of Agnikul Cosmos said this will help larger players emerge from the country's space start-up ecosystem. "This also shows that the government is continuing to strongly back its vision of making India have a larger chunk of the global space economy," he added.
There are at least 140 registered spacetech start-ups in the country. In February this year, the Union Cabinet approved an amendment to FDI policy on the space sector.
According to an EY report, the country's space economy is set for a growth of USD 13 billion by 2025.