NEW DELHI: In reply to a Parliament Question in Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology; Earth Sciences and Minister of State for PMO, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh informed the House that during the 10 ten years starting from January 2015 to December 2024, a total of 393 foreign satellites and 3 Indian customer satellites have been launched on commercial basis on-board ISRO's PSLV, LVM3 and SSLV Launch Vehicles.

The Minister further informed that the foreign exchange revenue generated by the Government through launching of foreign satellites during the period Jan 2015 to Dec 2024 is nearly 143 Million USD and 272 Million Euros. India has launched satellites of 34 countries so far, including those of developed countries since 2014 such as United States of America (232), United Kingdom (83), Singapore (19), Canada (8), Korea (5) Luxemburg (4), Italy (4), Germany (3), Belgium (3), Finland (3), France (3), Switzerland (2) Netherland (2), Japan (2), Israel (2), Spain (2), Australia (1), United Arab Emirates (1), Austria (1), etc.

The steps are taken by the Government to further private sector investment, their participation and the growth of Space Sector in India are (a) The space sector has been liberalised and private sector allowed to carry out end to end space activities (b) Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) was created in Department of Space for promoting, authorising and overseeing the activities of non-government entities (NGEs) in Space Sector (c) The Indian Space Policy - 2023 has been formulated by the Government to provide regulatory certainty to space activities by various stakeholders, in order to create a thriving space ecosystem (d) Various schemes to encourage and hand hold private sector also announced and implemented by IN-SPACe, i.e., Seed fund Scheme, Pricing Support Policy, Mentorship support, Technical Centre, Design Lab for NGEs, Skill Development in Space Sector, ISRO facility utilisation support, Technology Transfer to NGEs, creation of IN-SPACe Digital Platform to connect with all the stakeholders of space ecosystem etc. (e) Decadal vision and strategy for the Indian space economy is also announced by IN-SPACe, which shall increase the share of India in the overall space economy.

The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of a ₹1,000 crore Venture Capital (VC) Fund dedicated to supporting India's space sector.

IN-SPACe has signed around 78 MoUs with Non-Government Entities (NGEs) to provide necessary support for realization of space systems and applications envisaged by such NGEs, which is expected to increase the industry participation in manufacturing of launch vehicles and satellites.

In order to ease access to foreign capital by Indian NGEs, IN-SPACe along with Department of Space and DPIIT has brought out revised FDI policy for the Space Sector.

IN-SPACe has initiated the Establishment of Earth Observation (EO) System under Public Private Partnership (PPP). The Expression of Interest (EOI) was invited from Non-Government Entities (NGEs). RFP is floated.

Technology Transfer of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) to Indian entities is under process and response to RFP is invited from shortlisted bidders.

Announcement of Opportunity is made by IN-SPACe for making available Indian orbital resources to the NGEs. One Indian entity is selected.

ISRO pursues international collaboration with the objectives of enhancing the capacity of the Indian space programme for advancing programmatic priorities, augmenting space science and earth observation data base, widening ground station networks, improving products and services through joint experiments and creating platforms for inflow of expertise.