India's space industry seeks bold reforms, clarity on FDI
private space industry has sought bold and transformative reforms with clarity on the foreign direct investment to propel the nascent sector in the new year. The industry had welcomed the government decision, reflected in the Telecommunications Act approved by Parliament, to adopt the administrative route for allocation of satellite-based spectrum which would help bridge the digital divide by enabling space-based broadband internet access to remote parts of the country.
Industry bodies — Indian Space Association (ISpA) and Satcom Industry Association (SIA-India) — have also asked the government to bring the Space Activity Bill for approval of Parliament to give statutory cover to the Space Policy announced earlier this year.
«We expect the Space Activity Bill to be discussed in Parliament which will cover various factors of India's space goals, including insurance in space, international and national obligations, define offences and subsequent punishments, barriers of entry for private companies, liability for damages caused in space,» Lt Gen A K Bhatt (retd), Director General, Indian Space Association (ISpA), told PTI.
Bhatt said once the FDI Policy is in place, funds will flow from Indian big companies and there will be financial incentives to private players to be able to operate.
In its pre-budget memorandum, SIA-India has sought increased budgetary outlay for the Department of Space, tax incentives for research and development, extended tax-holiday for deep tech start-ups to seven years, interest rate subsidies, financial incentives for academia and visa programmes for entrepreneurs.
