Self-Reliance, Innovation: Key To India’s $44 Bn Space Economy
(From left) Srikant Lenka, CSO, Telangana IT Ministry, Sanjay Kumar, CEO, Geospatial World, Nick Bolton, CEO, Ordnance Survey - UK, Dr Pawan Goenka, Chairman, In-Space, Balo Raja, Arunachal Pradesh Minister for Urban Affairs, Agendra Kumar, MD, Esri India, and Boris Skopljak, VP, Trimble’s Geospatial Sector at the Conference in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: India’s Space sector, currently valued at $8.4 billion, is expected to reach $44 billion market by 2033. IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) is working with the private sector to bring in self-reliance in high resolution space data, technology, infrastructure, investment and driving demand for these solutions, said the space regulator’s Chairman.
Speaking at the GeoSmart India 2024 conference in Hyderabad, Dr Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe said that India is reliant on foreign sources for high-resolution space data, today the only Indian source being ISRO.
Listing other challenges to be addressed, Dr Goenka said, “India’s space and geospatial sectors are small in global context. There are very few private sector companies here and fewer with large scale, moreover there is huge dependency on the government. The growth enablers for India to achieve $44 billion in the space sector are, firstly by generating strategic data from sources inside India.” He also pushed for developing space and geospatial technologies in India instead of relying on global platforms. Dr Goenka further informed that Indian startups raised an investment of $125 million last year. There are 250 startups in the upstream side of space sector of which 15 to18 startups have started earning revenues, and getting business from outside India. “Now the thrust is on getting more funding for them and support through ISRO technology and infrastructure,” he added.
