Athira Sethu
Kochi, 26 March 2025
The government of India has allocated Rs 1,000 crore to fund space startups with the goal of driving growth in the space industry.
The initiative will be handled by SIDBI Venture Capital and is part of a much larger Rs 10,000 crore fund, which will be spent over the next five years to make Indian space companies competitive globally.
Jitendra Singh, the Minister of State for Science and Technology, stressed the government’s interest in space startups, citing that Rs 1,000 crore was earmarked for the industry in the first 100 days of the third term of Prime Minister Modi.
SIDBI Venture Capital will administer this fund, which seeks to enable space startups to scale up and obtain the risk capital they need to do so. The fund will disburse Rs 10,000 crore over five years, with Rs 150 crore in the 2025-26 financial year, Rs 250 crore in each of the next three years, and Rs 100 crore in the final year of the scheme, 2029-30.
Singh also added that although India joined the space industry later than other nations, it has now become a leader. He added that the budget for India’s space ministry has increased tremendously from Rs 5,615 crore to Rs 13,416 crore, an increase of 138%. This growth accounts only for the contribution of the government, since India has also made the industry available to private operators, hence a bigger source of funds.
The Indian Space Policy that was endorsed in April 2023 is intended to consolidate the Indian space economy by promoting private sector participation. The policy emphasizes research and development, and private sector firms are given access to infrastructure and expertise in the public sector so that the innovation can be further enhanced in the space industry.
