Estimating India’s space sector
Context:
Two premier institutes in the country HR Centre for development studies under Indian Institute of space science and technology have attempted at measuring the size of India’s space economy.
About:
• The reports have arrived at a figure of ₹36,794 crore (approximately $5 billion) for the financial year 2020-21. The estimated size, as a percentage of the GDP, has slipped from 0.26% in 2011-12 to 0.19% in 2020-21.
• By employing internationally accepted frameworks, the authors have examined the annual budget for the space programme and its constituents; space manufacturing, operations and application. According to the paper, space applications accounted for the major chunk of this evolving economy, constituting 73.57% (₹27,061 crore) of it in 2020-21, followed by space operations (₹8,218.82 crore or 22.31%) and manufacturing (₹1,515.59 crore or 4.12%).
• The budget outlay in 2020-21 was ₹9,500 crore, shrinking from ₹13,033.2 crore in the previous fiscal. The estimated size of the space economy shrunk from ₹43,397 crore in 2018-19 to ₹39,802 crore in 2019-20 and ₹36,794 crore in 2020-21.
• The study also found that the space budget as a percentage of the GDP slipped from 0.09% in 2000-01 to 0.05% in 2011-12, and has remained more or less at that level since then. In relation to GDP, India’s spending is more than that of China, Germany, Italy and Japan, but less than of the U.S. and Russia.
Way Forward:
• The new initiatives of the Central government by regularising the space sector are very likely to enlarge the size of the sector through enhanced private investment and improved integration with the global private space industry.
Source: THE HINDU.
