E-Paper
Charting a path to controlled growth for India’s ‘sunrise’ space economy
This paper is authored by Chaitanya Giri, ORF.
India is aiming for an eightfold increase in its share of the global space economy by 2047. The Indian ‘sunrise’ commercial space sector is benefiting from the government’s reforms, though gaps remain. The exact size of India’s domestic space economy is unknown, and the export promotion strategy for the space sector is unclear. This brief outlines three recommendations in parallel with the articulation of India’s National Space Policy. First, a new space-sector-specific items category in India’s SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment, and Technologies) export controls list is needed. Second, India’s domestic ITC-HS system could be revised to enable precise classification of the entire range of space-sector items and services that are currently scattered across various HS chapters. Lastly, India should advocate for similar space-items amendments during the World Customs Organization’s HS Nomenclature Amendments in 2034.
India is poised to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030. Sustained reforms in academia and research, along with support for innovation startups, have contributed to a steady growth in India’s innovation and related economic indices.
Value addition to high-volume and low-technology goods, an increase in export of natural resources and agricultural produce, higher investment in research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDTE), and a strategic commercialisation of mid- and high-technology products are key to sustaining this growth and India’s continued position at a high world ranking. In this respect, a noticeable change is anticipated in Indian gross value-added indicators as export-ready goods and services from so-called ‘sunrise sectors’—a start to contribute to this and other indicators of national and global relevance. The Indian government, since the Union Budget of 2022, has identified the following as sunrise sectors for the Indian economy: electronics and semiconductors; electric vehicles; renewable energy (including green hydrogen); agro- and food-processing; health care and pharmaceuticals; and space economy.
This paper can be accessed here.
This paper is authored by Chaitanya Giri, ORF.
