SPACE ECONOMY 

India’s Initiatives to promote space-tech entrepreneurship 

Key organisations 

• • IN-SPACe: An autonomous agency under the Department of Space (DoS).
    • Its role includes regulating, promoting, guiding, monitoring, and supervising the space activities of Non Governmental Private Entities (NGPEs) in India. 
  • Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL): A commercial arm of ISRO, was setup in 1992 and is a wholly owned Government of India Company. 
  • New Space India Limited (NSIL): Schedule ‘A’ Category Company under DoS. It was set up in 2019, to handle the commercial activities of ISRO.  
  • Indian Space Association (ISpA): Established in 2020, ISpA is an apex non-profit industry body, setup for development of the private space industry in India. 
• Key Initiatives 
  • Indian Space Policy 2023: Enables end-to-end participation of Non-Government Entities (NGEs) in all domain of space activities. 
  • Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): Recent amendment in FDI policy allowed 74% FDI for satellite manufacturing and operation, up to 49% FDI for launch vehicles, spaceports and associated systems etc. 
  • SpaceTech Innovation Network (SpIN), public-private collaboration for start-ups and small and medium- enterprises in space industry. 
  • Tax benefits: Satellite launches are exempted from GST. 
  • Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) 
    • ATL Space Challenge: AIM in collaboration with the ISRO and CBSE launched the Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) Space Challenge. The challenge encourages students to find efficient and innovative solutions for specific, real-world challenges in the Space sector. 
    • Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) Scheme: AIM has supported more than 15 startups working in Space Tech and related industry across India. The focus areas for these startups are in UAV, Drone and Surveillance Equipment, Aero tech, Air Taxi, Space debris tracking and monitoring service, space education among others. 
  • Mentoring: List of retired ISRO subject experts is published on IN-SPACe Digital Platform (IDP). NGEs can approach these mentors directly for expert advice etc.