NEW DELHI: Addressing the inaugural session of G20 Space Economy Leaders Meeting on April 17, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh described India as an emerging space economy.
G20 Space Economy Leaders Meeting was organised under India’s G20 presidency by the Department of Space, Government of India.
The Minister said that India is one of the very few countries who have built end to end capability in space. Over these years, space technology has penetrated to all walks of life. As a result, there is a huge demand for space based services which have huge commercial potential, he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government has decided to open up the space sector for the Indian private industry through the 2020 Space Sector reforms to enhance their participation in end-to-end space activities with hand holding of ISRO.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that a nodal entity called Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre IN-SPACe has been created towards promoting and authorising private industries participation. The creation of IN-SPACe has received overwhelming response from the Indian space industry. The first privately built sounding rocket was launched last November and a space start-up has established a launch pad inside ISRO’s launch complex. A few start-ups have built and launched satellites, he added.
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Dr Jitendra Singh appreciated the Department of Space for organising the Space Economy Leaders Meeting at Bengaluru and a Precursor event at Shillong. He added that the major objective of these events should be to make Space as a formal element of G20 discussions, in future.
