Blitz Bureau
INDIA has invested nearly $13 billion in the space sector over the past decade which has contributed $60 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP) through direct, indirect and induced benefits, Parisbased global consulting firm Novaspace has said in its report recently.
As per the report, it has generated 4.7 million jobs. The sector directly employs 96,000 persons through the public and the private sector.
The report ‘The Socio-Economic Impact of the Indian Space Programme’, released by the Indian government also said that India was the eighth-largest space nation in the world in terms of funding and has seen faster growth of startups in the sector.
ISRO had tasked Novaspace with preparing a report on the socio-economic impact of its space missions. The estimated revenues of India’s space sector have increased from $3.8 billion in 2014 to $6.3 billion in 2023. Every dollar generated by the space economy in India translates into $2.54 of indirect and induced benefit.
The Novaspace report said ISRO helps eight lakh fishermen daily. In addition, 1.4 billion Indians get the benefit of satellite-based weather forecasts. Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (INSPACe) had launched a seed fund scheme for start-ups, facilitated transfer of technology to the private sector and established a design lab with simulation softwares for budding space sector entrepreneurs.