In a continued effort at evangelizing the challenges and concerns faced by the Space industry, SIA-India has submitted pre-budget memorandum outlining measures to boost the Commercial Space Sector from a taxation and regulatory reforms perspective.

A comprehensive document was submitted to the Ministry of finance and other relevant ministries and departments by SIA-India.

The document highlights the Industry's expectations and has enlisted a few recommendations for consideration: The key highlights of the recommendations are:

• Product-linked incentive scheme;
• Introduction of Tax Holiday regime and Goods and Services tax incentives organizations and entities engaged in the space sector;
• Taxation Jurisdiction over Space Activities.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released recommendations on 'Licensing Framework for Establishing and Operating Satellite Earth Station Gateway (SESG)'. Earlier, the Department of Telecommunications (DOT), through their letter dated 10.09.2021 had sought the TRAI's Recommendations on licensing framework for the establishment of satellite gateway.

The recommendations are for a separate Satellite Earth Station Gateway (SESG) License which will not form part of the Unified License (UL). This is in line with the SIA-India submission to the regulator last year in December 2020 where the association had suggested for specific authorization for establishing the satellite Earth Station gateway. SIA-India asserted that establishing a framework for a Gateway license will allow infrastructure sharing and avoid duplication of investment in the interest of creating a low CAPEX, scalable infrastructure ecosystem.

To read the salient features of the Recommendations please follow the link: https://trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Recommendation_29112022_0.pdf

Aerospace and Defence Magazine dedicated its November issue to Satcom where article were written by Dr Subba Rao Pavuluri, President SIA-India and CMD Ananth Technologies, Lt Gen Khandare, Principal Advisor to MOD (r), Mr Anil Prakash, DG, SIA-India, Lt Gen PJS Pannu, Former DSDC (Ops)(r) and Dr Chaitanya Giri, Space Diplomacy Policy Analyst.

The Union Cabinet has recently approved the National Geospatial Policy. Dr. Subba Rao Pavuluri, President SIA- India welcomes the approval of the National Geospatial Policy by the Govt that seeks to boost entrepreneurship for the socioeconomic development of the country. The policy also seeks to promote the use of geospatial products and services, generate useful insights from geospatial data and strengthen India's geospatial infrastructure and capabilities.

The government's decision to boost entrepreneurship will contribute to the country's socio economic development. This will significantly boost investment and innovation and help the industry grow at 3x speed.

Geospatial technologies mainly consist of Remote Sensing GIS (Geographic Information System), GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and Survey 3D modelling. The biggest consumer of geospatial data in India are the Survey of India (SoI), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Remote Sensing Application Centres (RSACs), and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and all ministries and departments, in general.

Geo-Intelligence is another massive use category of spatial data collection. Increasing use of horizontal technologies like IoT, big data analytics, AI, mobility, and cyber not only enables full potential utilization of geo-intelligence assets but also opens up new use cases in military intelligence.

The Geospatial market as of 2021 was Rs 38972 Cr. As per the Geospatial "Artha" Report 2021 India's geospatial economy has been projected to cross Rs 63,000 crore by 2025, growing at a rate of 12.8%, and will provide employment to more than 10 lakh people mainly through geospatial start-ups. There are also reports that project the growth in net-worth of the sector to be about Rs 1 lakh-crore by the year 2029 with a 13% CAGR.



India's robust ecosystem is led by technology start-ups. There are around 250 geospatial start-ups in India and most would be moving towards high-tech ground-level surveillance

With more investments and government budgetary support, there will be a spurt in geospatial innovations leading to more accuracy of data which would eventually bring down the cost of innovation, a huge win-win for tech start-ups. The private sector is set to take precedence over international tech giants sooner than we know and the country will extend this infrastructure access to benefit South Asian neighboring states too.

To Read the article: https://issuu.com/geospatialworld/docs/geospatial-artha-magazine-nov-dec-2022

Taking the iDEX initiative further, Defence India Start-up Challenge has been launched by Ministry in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission, aimed at supporting Start-ups/MSMEs/Innovators to create prototypes and/or commercialize products/solutions in the area of National Defence and Security.

Start-ups, innovators, MSMES & researchers, submit innovative solutions for mission defspace challenges & shortlisted start-ups can avail of a grant of ₹10 cr.

Due to overwhelming responses and requests from start-ups, MSMEs and Innovators, the last date to apply for DISC8 and iDEXPrime (SPACE) have been extended till 2nd January 2023.

To Know more: https://idex.gov.in/challenge-categories

Dr. Sudheer Kumar N, Dir, CBPO, ISRO, Dr P K Jain , Director IN-SPACe , Mr D.S. Govindrajan, President, Aniara Spacecom LLC and Ms Chitrita Chatterjee Sr Dir, SIA-India with other Dignitaries visiting SIA-India booth#11 at "National Space Science Exhibition" in Kolkata held from 6-11 Dec'22 organized by Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata (IISER KOLKATA) in collaboration with ISRO, National Council of Science Museums, Science City Kolkata, Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, Kolkata, and SN Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata.

Ms. Chitrita Chatterjee, Sr Director Operations, SIA-India participated in a panel discussion held at the exhibition to discuss the importance of skills development in the Space Sector. Ms Chatterjee highlighted the academia-Industry disconnect and lack of skilled sector-specific professionals which are one of the biggest deterrents to the Space Sector

She stressed on the SIA-India initiative to organise Space Awareness Project for School Students and Capacity Building program for Graduate Students. SIA-India to augment skill development in the Spacetech sector which has a massive potential.

Girl students visited Ananth Technologies facility for field trip as part of 'Girls In Space' initiative of Society for Space Education Research and Development (SSERD). SSERD organised this initiative to provide a career exploration and hands-on experience-oriented mentorship program for high school students to promote women's participation in the space industry for the future.

SSERD is working towards providing Space Education and creating awareness among the students in the Rural regions, Government schools, Backward communities, underprivileged, and Special children, along with the support of Corporates through CSR funds.

SIA-India congratulates its member GalaxEye Space for raising $3.5 Million in a seed round led by VC firm Speciale Invest. Such funding will help accelerate the launch of the multi-sensor satellite for earth observation. This will also mark the beginning of commercialization with GalaxEye customers across the US, Europe and Africa. Founded in 2020, GalaxEye is building a multi-sensor earth observation satellite. It is building a constellation of indigenous micro-satellites with data fusion capabilities. GalaxEye has already signed partnerships and commercial contracts with several leading organizations in the space tech ecosystem, including US-based space software provider Antaris. The company plans to continue expanding its partnerships and customer base in the coming months and has submitted a proposal to IN-SPACe seeking support from ISRO.

SIA-India is happy to welcome Manastu Space as member.

Manastu Space is a Space Safety and Logistics Company, using technology to save the Trillion $ Space industry from Debris Pollution in Space. Manastu Space is on a mission to bring 'Space for all Mankind' by making space Safe, Sustainable, and Accessible with their agile, efficient and affordable i.e sustainable technologies starting with satellite green propulsion and debris collision avoidance system. The rapid increase in the number of satellites is also increasing the risk of satellite collision, leading to Debris pollution- making space a dangerous place for other satellites as well as astronauts.

To know more about the start-up: https://www.manastuspace.com/

Are you looking for a fun and exciting activity to keep your kids entertained during the Christmas vacation? Genex Space is offering an exclusive winter camp exploring space! Kids will enjoy hands-on activities, games, and interactive workshops that will teach them all about the wonders of the universe. This camp is guaranteed to be an unforgettable experience and a great way to get kids excited about science and space exploration. Sign up now and give your kids a Christmas to remember.

Starting from 26th December to 30th December

Grade 3 to 9

Link to register- https://genex.space/wintercamp

Contact- 81476 19141

The Indian Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) was established in 2020 under the Department of Space as an autonomous nodal agency to regulate space activities. However, IN-SPACe's role and powers are not clearly spelled out. There is no prescribed criteria or framework for the grant of licences for commercial space activities. IN-SPACe must establish a framework for granting such licenses, and identify conditions for licensing that would be negotiable, and capable of waiver by IN-SPACe in certain circumstances – e.g. in if it is national interest to do so – and require that potential licensees obtain approvals from other regulators where necessary for the purpose of such waiver. The framework should also require licensees to comply with international space regulations such as the Outer Space Treaty, the Liability Convention and the International Telecommunication Union Radio Regulations.

To the extent that the licensing of space activities requires the involvement of the Department of Telecommunication, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Home, timelines should be prescribed for the grant of approval from each regulator to ensure faster licence approval and enhanced planning possibilities for Indian space companies. Finally, licences must not be revoked without sufficient cause, and revocation should be in accordance with the licensing framework.