Interview | India can capture one-fourth of commercial space market: ISpA Chairman Jayant Patil

India has the potential to capture at least one-fourth of the commercial space market in the next 25 years. To achieve the same, the country requires enabling policies backed by an act of Parliament, Jayant Patil, Chairman Indian Space Association, and defense and aerospace industry veteran, told ETV Bharat in an exclusive interview.

New Delhi:With the opening of the country’s space sector for private players, India can increase its market share in space commerce to one-fourth of the global commercial space market in the next 25 years, said Jayant Patil, Chairman Indian Space Association (ISpA), the Space and Satellite industry body. In an exclusive interaction with ETV Bharat, the defense and aerospace industry veteran said the country requires enabling policies backed by an act of Parliament to realise the space and satellite industry’s true potential.

Talking about the commercial space sector, Patil said the entire value of space commerce was estimated at $7 billion which is just 2 per cent of the global market because the sector was government controlled. Patil said: “Today, when we look at where we can take ourselves from the present market share of 2%, then a lot depends on the policy framework that would be formulated.”

“We at ISpA have conducted an analysis. If we make a strategic plan for 2047, then we think that we can bring 25 per cent of the global space commerce here in India. We will have to do a lot of work to achieve that goal. For this, we need to support our startups, including those startups with crazy ideas. It requires an enabling environment and enabling policies,” Patil told ETV Bharat.

Jayant Patil, who is also whole-time director and senior vice president of Larsen & Toubro, says that the space policy should cater to different segments of the space sector and it should also have legal backing by an act of Parliament. According to Patil, the policy was expected around six months ago but the space industry hopes that the policy may be announced by March.

The space policy which was formulated after consultation with stakeholders is under consideration by the government and is awaiting approval by the cabinet, he said. “I hope the space policy should be out by March while an act of Parliament would require some more time. We hope that an enabling legislation may be put in place by the monsoon session,” said the ISpA Chairman.

Patil clarified that enabling legislation was still at the drafting stage and it has not been put in the public domain while the draft space sector policy was discussed with the involved stakeholders. “All these things are in the pipeline. It was supposed to be completed in 2021, in any case by the middle of 2022, but it is still in the pipeline,” he said.

Space sector will be divided in 3 segments

Patil said when the space policy was under discussion, it was decided by the government that the space sector will be bifurcated and scientific research and advancement will be handled by the ISRO while space launches will be done by New Space India (NSIL), a public sector undertaking. At the time of opening the space industry for the private sector, the ISpA was created to facilitate the private sector and startups in the space sector.

Booming space startups

Jayant Patil said with the opening of the space industry for the private sector, a lot of startups are coming into the space industry. “Four five years ago, there were only 4-5 startups in the space sector. But with the opening of the space sector for private players, today there are 105 startups in the space sector,” said Patil. He, however, clarified that Indian startups in the space sector are in their infancy.

“In the launch segment, we only see beginners. However, when we look at the payload segment then we have seen one startup was able to conceive of the hyperspectral payload, which even ISRO could not think of. These innovations will bring about big changes in future,” he added.

Startups infuse new ideas

Patil said the country’s apex space research organisation, ISRO, has been launching satellites for several decades but it only met the requirements given by the government. “They (ISRO) did not go beyond that. Now, this startup created an instrument on a single payload that can scan on 160 frequencies. You can analyse the same image in 160 different ways. We are looking at the same image in 160 different frequencies,” explained the ISpA Chairman.

"Today, we can create 1 Gigapixel image out of 100 Megapixel images, these things are happening due to startups," he said. Patil said the country’s space sector always faced sanctions and because of that it largely became self-reliant and several global benchmarks in the space sector belonged to India. He said the country’s space sector has several achievements such as the country has launched the maximum number of satellites and it also has the cheapest moon and mars mission programmes.

“Now the challenge is how to transfer ISRO's strength to the private sector. We are supporting startups through In Space. For example, if a startup requires a particular know-how then we help them by connecting them to ISRO's retired persons or specialist persons or serving people or some laboratory, then under that scheme after verifying the genuineness of the startup we provide that support system to them,” Patil said.

Talking about the weakness of India’s space industry, the ISpA Chairman said the space sector was a controlled sector so the private sector lacks the know-how. "Now either they need to forge joint ventures with foreign players or with ISRO," he said.

Indian GeoSpatial products

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s observation that because of policy restrictions, Google and Google Maps are not Indian products despite a significant contribution by Indian engineers, Patil said there are several Indian GeoSpatial products that are available in the market. “I am in the weapons industry, several people say that India's Mappls is much more accurate than Google,” said the defence industry veteran.

Talking about the work done by Indian startups in the space sector, Patil told ETV Bharat that Indian startups are coming up with novel ideas in almost every segment of the space sector such as space engines, launch vehicles, and satellites. “They are coming up with ideas about such space engines that we never thought about in India. They are even thinking of nuclear power-based space engines, green engines” he explained.

He, however, highlighted the challenge of funding Indian startups in the space sector. “In such a case, the defence ministry came forward to fund these startups. The MoD said that we will throw up 75 challenges to these startups and once approved they will be funded under the Make Programme of the ministry of defence,” the ISpA Chairman noted.