IN-SPACe for getting India Inc in space

To encourage private sector participation in space activities, a national nodal agency, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), was announced by GoI last year. Pawan Goenka, chairman-designate, IN-SPACe, spoke to TOI on the road ahead: medium nocaption86201711 IN-SPACe Board, unlike most regulatory bodies, will have representatives from all key areas. What are the advantages? One of the primary aspects Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in mind for the sector, as was announced by the finance minister last year, was how to bring in the private industry. And it is, therefore, very appropriate that the Board will have representatives from all three areas – industry, academia and the government – as it will enable a more balanced approach. The constraints of the industry and the regulatory requirement keeping in mind the security and safety aspects, will be well-balanced. There’s a lot of anticipation from the industry in terms of policy. The government’s intent has been very clear. And, policy-making for space, compared to many other sectors is a lot more complex because it has the concern of security and safety which is very important, and there’s a concern on legal liability which is also important. Now, it is key to grow the industry within those constraints. We believe that it is clearly doable as many countries have done it and the space industry globally has grown to $400 billion. We need to do it carefully but with speed. The time to strike is now and all the policies that are in the draft form will need to be released quickly and facilitate the sector. What will be the top priorities for IN-SPACe and you? The role of IN-SPACe will be as a facilitator to enable the space sector to grow from its current $7 billion or so to much more. I don’t want to get into specifics at this juncture, and do everything that is needed to make this happen. While actions will be taken by Isro, NSIL (New Space India Limited) and the private enterprises, IN-SPACe will make this happen. First, we will create a regulatory environment and policies that wouldn’t compromise the security, safety or legal liability but at the same time ensure they don’t become roadblocks for the private sector. Up to now, private enterprises have not seen the space sector as being commercially viable. And when they come in they have to see the potential and returns on investment. Our focus will be to help them see this potential, make the sector more desirable and bring in more investments. Where are we at present and what does the future hold? All the pieces are in place. Isro’s development of technology is world class which has given us a strong technological base. So far we’ve been inward-looking and are now opening up for the world. That Isro and all its directorates are very open to sharing what they’ve developed is a positive sign because once the innovator is willing to share technology, the job becomes easy. So, Isro’s technical stability and readiness to share technology, the private industry’s desire to get into upstream activities – like launch vehicles and satellites – and the government support, are all ingredients that make a very viable proposition to grow the space sector into a $40-50 billion business and that is why I am so excited to get into the role at IN-SPACe that will act as a facilitator. But private investment in the sector is seen to be low. If you look at the global industry, the big investors came in much later, after the industry had attained a certain maturity. Now, India has done really well so far as space exploration and building technology goes, but the industry is yet to attain the kind of commercial maturity. The opportunities are plenty and there’s a lot of potential, so we will see huge investments in the future. The opening up of the space industry is just beginning. Our industry that has so far only supplied to Isro will now be looking at global companies as partners. The success rate of Isro, aside from reiterating its abilities, also reflects the quality of the industry suppliers. I think Isro has done a great job in ensuring quality in vendors it procures from, which is very important for scaling.