India’s Space Economy Ahead of Russia and China
India’s space economy has advanced significantly, accounting for around 0.23 per cent of the country’s GDP.
A collaboration between two leading research and educational institutions in Thiruvananthapuram has shed new light on India’s “space economy,” whose precise dimensions have remained mostly elusive even as the country’s space programme has progressed at breakneck speed.
What is the space economy?
The OECD defines the Space Economy as “the complete spectrum of activities and resource uses that provide value and advantages for humans in the exploration, study, understanding, management, and utilization of space.”
With the expansion and deep transformation of the space industry, as well as the increased integration of space into society and economics, the Space Economy is developing and evolving.
Today’s space infrastructure facilitates the creation of new services, which in turn enables new applications in areas including meteorology, energy, telecommunications, insurance, transportation, marine, aviation, and urban development, resulting in further economic and societal advantages.
The space industry is not only a growth sector in and of itself, but it also serves as a critical facilitator of growth in other industries.
First of its kind attempt
Researchers from the Center for Development Studies (CDS) and the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) came up with a number of 36,794 crores (roughly $5 billion) for the 2020-21 fiscal year in a first-of-its-kind attempt to quantify the scale of India’s space economy.
They discovered that the expected size of India’s space economy as a percentage of GDP has decreased from 0.26 per cent in 2011-12 to 0.19 per cent in 2020-21.
The findings are presented in a paper titled “The Space Economy of India: Its Size and Structure” by CDS director Sunil Mani, V. K. Dadhwal, IIST’s former Director, and Shaijumon C. S., IIST’s Associate Professor of Economics, were the focus of a webinar on Saturday.
India’s space economy is ₹27071
The writers assessed the annual budget for the space programme and its parts, including space manufacturing, operations, and application, using internationally recognised frameworks.
According to the research, space applications made up the majority of this emerging sector in 2020-21, accounting for 73.57 per cent (27061 crores), followed by space operations (8218.82 crores or 22.31 per cent) and manufacturing (1515.59 crores or 4.12 per cent).
According to the report, the budget allocation for space has a significant impact on the dynamics of the space economy. “India’s space economy has advanced significantly, presently accounting for around 0.23 per cent of the country’s GDP on average” (over 2011-12 to 2020-21).
In the previous two years, we’ve also witnessed a decrease in the funding for space-related operations, which has resulted in a fall in the size of the economy,” Prof. Mani added. In 2020-21, the budget outlay was $9,500 crore, down from $13,033.2 crore the previous fiscal year.
It is more than that of Russia and China
The space budget as a percentage of GDP fell from 0.09 per cent in 2000-01 to 0.05 per cent in 2011-12, according to the report, and has been relatively constant since then. India spends more than China, Germany, Italy, and Japan in terms of GDP, but less than the United States and Russia.
Despite its flaws, the study is the first attempt at scientifically assessing the extent of the space industry, according to Dr Shaijumon. One disadvantage, according to Prof. Mani, is the inability to estimate the size of the space-based remote sensing industry.
“Our next step would be to investigate the influence of the space economy on the Indian economy.” The effect is both direct and indirect,” says the author Prof. Mani.
The authors based their findings on records from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Parliament, as well as reports from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), data on intellectual property rights, and other government data, as well as Scopes-indexed space publications.
The CDS-IIST research initiative coincided with a new Central government policy that allowed private firms to enter the market. According to the authors, these regulations are extremely likely to expand the sector’s growth through more private investment and better integration with the global commercial space economy.
A. The research is the first attempt to scientifically quantify the scale of the space economy scientifically.
B. They discovered that the expected size of India’s space economy as a percentage of GDP has decreased from 0.26 per cent in 2011-12 to 0.19 per cent in 2020-21.
C. India spends more than China, Germany, Italy, and Japan in terms of GDP, but less than the United States and Russia.
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