Triple budgetary support for space sector industry body urges finance minister

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) India's space industry has sought tripling of budgetary allocation for the sector and a national satellite connectivity mission with fund support to provide communication services in remote areas.
    The Satcom Industry Association of India (SIA-India) submitted its expectations from the Union Budget to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday.
    It noted that the allocation for the space sector, currently 0.04 per cent of the GDP (gross domestic product), should be tripled to at least 0.12 per cent to allow the government to expand spending without resorting to shock expenditure.
    "From secure communications and navigation to climate systems, launch infrastructure and disaster resilience, every layer of our national architecture now depends on space assets," said Subba Rao Pavuluri, President, SIA-India.
    Pavuluri said granting space the status of critical infrastructure and decisively expanding public investment is essential if India was to match its strategic aspirations and secure its leadership in the Indo-Pacific.
    The industry body also called for a National Satellite Connectivity Mission, backed by the Universal Service Obligation Fund, to ensure digital inclusion in remote, disaster-prone and economically unviable regions.
    It recommends financing satellite backhaul for approximately 40,000 difficult gram panchayats and creating a multi-year commitment framework to ensure predictable, long-term service continuity.
    The recommendations also highlight the need for enabling Foreign Direct Investment frameworks, joint-venture facilitation, zero-rated regime or a tradable credit mechanism to release locked working capital in a research-and-development-intensive sector, to ensure India remains a competitive hub for deep-tech innovation.
    The industry body also urged the government to formally designate a Certifying Authority for Customs Exemptions and a unified process for exemptions, ensuring predictable, time-bound clearance of critical space hardware.
    Other key recommendations include, Hybrid Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for space manufacturing, a first-of-its-kind PLI tailored for long-cycle, low-volume space manufacturing to de-risk, scale-up and attract global joint ventures.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)