Boosting Space Sector Startups in India

Union minister Jitendra Singh has introduced a significant funding scheme worth Rs 1,000 crore aimed at enhancing space sector startups. This initiative is expected to foster growth within the sector in the upcoming years.

Back in October of last year, the Union Cabinet took a monumental step by approving the creation of a venture capital (VC) fund specifically designed to support India’s space industry. The total corpus of Rs 10,000 crore will be managed by SIDBI Venture Capital, which is committed to aiding space technology startups in scaling their operations to achieve global competitiveness, while simultaneously tackling the issue of risk capital.

The fund is set to deploy the capital over a five-year span, starting with Rs 150 crore allocated for the financial year 2025-26, followed by Rs 250 crore each in the subsequent three financial years, and concluding with Rs 100 crore in 2029-30.

Jitendra Singh, the union minister of India, remarked that for the Department of Space, the budget allocation has undergone a significant increase from Rs 5,615 crore to Rs 13,416 crore, marking a remarkable 138% rise. He emphasized that this is merely the contribution of the government, highlighting that the overall investment pool is considerably larger due to the liberalisation of the space sector.

The recently approved Indian Space Policy in April 2023 seeks to invigorate the Indian space economy by promoting private sector involvement, prioritising research and development initiatives, and granting access to public sector infrastructure and expertise.