India’s space agency ISRO is apparently witnessing an excellent return on investment. A recent study has revealed that for each rupee spent by the organization, the return comes in at Rs 2.5. The revelation was made by ISRO Chairman S. Somanath on Tuesday. He said this while being part of an interactive session with students from the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society.
Somanath will also refer to the findings of the report called Socio-Economic Impact Analysis of Indian Space Program, which ISRO, in collaboration with Novaspace, a European consultancy on space, had ordered. The report expounds on elaborate detail concerning the economic gains India has reaped from its space missions. It also made it known that India’s space industry contributed a staggering $60 billion to the country’s GDP between 2014 and 2024.
This implies a strong multiplier effect for the Indian economy since every dollar created by the space sector leads to $2.54 in broader economic benefits. The results clearly show that the ventures by ISRO have long-term implications for India’s development, going way beyond just technological advancement.
Growth Of India’s Space Economy
The Indian space economy has ballooned to $6.3 billion by 2023, placing it at the eighth spot in the global chain of space economies. Of course, aside from jobs generated, the Indian space sector also contributes to other areas like job generation. It is estimated that to date, 4.7 million jobs have been generated through the space sector. Some 96,000 jobs were also generated in both public and private sectors.
Indian space economy, estimated at around Rs 6,700 crore ($8.4 billion) in 2024, is accounting for 2% to 3% of the global space economy, which is likely to touch $13 billion by 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6%. India has set for itself an ambitious target of grabbing 10% share of the global space economy by 2030.
ISRO has done rather wonderfully given the modest investment that India has made into space. The total investment made in ISRO over the past 55 years has been far less than NASA’s annual budget, which is about 15.5 times larger than ISRO’s annual expenditure. At $1.6 billion, ISRO spending makes only a fraction of the $25 billion spent annually at NASA. Yet this is partly reflected in ISRO’s future achievements: 127 Indian and over 430 foreign satellites launched during its existence.
Societal Contributions By ISRO
The work of ISRO does not just end at sending spacecraft into space. It continues to serve as a service provider to many sectors in India. For example, the daily utility of 140 crore Indians depends on space-based weather forecasting by ISRO, and its support is beneficial to 8 lakh fishermen daily. Not to forget, India’s high-resolution, 25cm-resolution spy satellites are in the best class across the world.
Indian interplanetary exploration has also entered history books. So far, it successfully sent both the Moon and Mars-bound missions, including the recent soft landing of Chandrayaan-3’s lander near the south pole of the Moon. ISRO has proven its capability on the international arena in various fields of solar research. The agency is continuously studying the Sun with the Aditya L-1 satellite.
