India will soon come out with a new foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for the space sector, Indian Space research Organisation Chairman K. Sivan said in September. In his address at the International Space Conference and Exhibition, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), on the theme ‘Building NewSpace in India’, Sivan, who is also Secretary of the Department of Space, said with India opening up its space sector for private players, there has been a lot of interest by the foreign companies to invest in India.

There is enormous scope for foreign companies to tie up with Indian companies in the space sector, he added. Dr Sivan said the FDI policy is getting revised which would open up huge opportunities for foreign companies to invest in India. Presently all FDI in the space sector has to be cleared by the government while the industry wants the investment under the automatic route. The Space Bill is being reviewed by various other ministries. The Netherlands is interested in collaborating with India on miniaturization of satellites, nano satellites, components and subsystems, said Nico van Putten of Netherlands Space Office.

According to NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) Chairman and Managing Director D. Radhakrishnan, part of India’s space sector reforms is that the company works on a demand driven model from the earlier supply driven model. He said the demand driven model will bring in more accountability and also better usage of the space assets.

Dr Radhakrishnan said soon India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will be made by Indian industries and other rockets will also follow. He said NSIL has also started transferring technology to private sector players.

In his opening remarks, Antrix Corporation CMD and Chairman, CII National Committee on Space, Rakesh Sasibhushan, said in 2020 the global space sector grew by four per cent to $447 billion. He said 49 per cent of that is accounted for by the commercial sector and India’s share is only two per cent. Mr Sasibhushan also said some of the Indian space sector start-ups are readying to go global.