Cabinet nod for private sector in space

The Union cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the formation of a new organization, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), seeking to open up space infrastructure to the private sector.

At a press briefing held shortly after the cabinet meeting, Union minister of state Jitendra Singh termed the decision “historic.”

IN-SPACe will provide a level playing field for private sector companies to use Indian space infrastructure, he said. “It will also hand-hold, promote and guide the private industries in space activities,” he said.

The far-reaching reforms in the space sector are aimed at boosting the private sector’s participation in the entire range of space activities. “This will unlock India’s potential in the space sector”, Singh said.

He said the new organisation will play a supplementary role to the Indian Space Research Organisation, formed in 1969, to “harness space technology for national development while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration”.

The public sector New Space India Limited (NSIL) will endeavour to reorient space activities from a supply-driven to a demand-driven model, thereby ensuring optimum use of space assets.

“The proposed reforms will enhance the socio-economic use of space assets and activities, including through improved access to space assets, data and facilities,” an official statement said.

These reforms will allow ISRO to focus more on research and development activities, new technologies, exploration missions and human spaceflight programme. Some of the planetary exploration missions will also be opened up to the private sector through an “announcement of opportunity” mechanism, the statement said.

“IN-SPACe will ensure a level playing field for private companies, and a friendly, fair, rigorous, and speedy regulatory environment, spur investment, and innovation. NSIL, will drive demand for space products and services, to ensure optimum utilization of space assets,” said K VijayRaghavan, principal scientific advisor to the government of India, in a series of tweets.

“These reforms are in line with global best practices, and designed to ensure India sees new companies making new investments and providing new services in this sector very soon,” he tweeted.

Several other important decisions were taken in the meeting on Wednesday including bringing hundreds of banks (what banks are these. commercial banks are already under RBI) under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of India.

The cabinet approved the establishment of an Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund and additional investment by ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, in Myanmar.

It also approved the declaration of Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh as an international airport and extended the term of the commission constituted to examine the issue of sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) by six months.