For every rupee Isro spends, returns are Rs 2.5, says space agency head | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: A recent study by the Indian Space Agency on whether the money invested in the sector has benefited society has found that for every rupee spent by the organization, the return is Rs 2.5 , Isro Chairman S Somanath said on Tuesday.
Speaking at an interactive session with students of the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society, Somnath said Isro’s aim is to serve the country rather than compete for supremacy among the space-faring nations. “Going to the moon is a costly affair. And we cannot depend solely on the government for financing. We need to create business opportunities. If you have to maintain it, you have to create a use for it. Otherwise, after we do something, the government will tell you to close,” he said.
Somanath was referring to the Socio-Economic Impact Analysis of Indian Space Programme, a report commissioned by Isro in collaboration with European space consultancy Novaspace that assessed the benefits of India’s space programme. However, the report spoke about the returns the space sector received in terms of dollars. The report, released by Space Minister Jitendra Singh on National Space Day, said the space sector contributed $60 billion to India’s GDP between 2014 and 2024. For every dollar generated by the space sector, the Indian economy has seen a multiplier effect of $2.54.
India’s space sector revenues will grow to $6.3 billion by 2023, making it the eighth largest space economy in the world. It has created 4.7 million jobs, including 96,000 jobs in the public and private sectors, the report said.
As of 2024, India’s space economy is valued at around Rs 6,700 crore ($8.4 billion), contributing 2% to 3% to the global space economy, which is expected to reach $13 billion by 2025 at a compound annual rate growth (CAGR) of 6%. India aims to capture a 10% share of the global economy in the next decade.
The total investment in Isro so far in the last 55 years since its inception is less than the one-year budget of the US space agency NASA. Isro’s current annual budget is about US$1.6 billion and NASA’s current annual budget is US$25 billion, which is about 15.5 times greater than India’s expenditure on space. India has more than 400 private space companies – down from 54 in 2020
According to Isro’s latest estimates, a total of 127 Indian satellites have been launched till December 31, 2023, including those of private operators and academic institutions. India has launched 97 rockets and sent 432 foreign satellites into space. It has three different rockets available for commercial launches. According to the report, Isro helps eight lakh fishermen every day and 140 crore Indians benefit from satellite-based weather forecasting. India’s 25cm resolution spy satellites are among the best in the world.
In the field of interplanetary exploration, India created history by capturing the orbit of the Moon and Mars in its first attempts. India also made a soft landing with its Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram near the moon’s undiscovered south pole. India is currently studying the sun 24×7 through the Aditya L-1 satellite.