Government of India doubles down on liberalisation of foreign direct investment in the Space Industry

Existing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy only permitted establishment and operation of satellites through the government approval route.

Purpose of this consultation was to understand pre-requisites of achieving sophistication in space-related products, global scale of operations and higher share of global space economy.

As a consequence to this consultation a new policy aimed towards augmenting India's space capabilities was notified by the Union Cabinet on 21 February 2024 .

The policy provides fair means for private enterprises to establish meaningful presence in space industry.

Government of India aims to use space as a driver of technology development and create a thriving ecosystem for effective implementation of space applications among all stakeholders.

Under the Indian Space Policy of 2023, the Union Cabinet of India eased the FDI Policy in

the space sector by prescribing liberalised FDI thresholds for various sub-sectors and activities.

The new amendments to the FDI Policy in the space sector divide the sector in three categories, based on the activities and its defined limit of FDI.

Under the amended FDI policy, 100% FDI is allowed in space sector.

The entry route for these activities under the amended policy are as follows:

2023 Policy - permissible FDI under Government route only

Manufacturing of components and systems/ sub-systems for satellites, ground segment and user segment

Satellites manufacturing & operation, satellite data products and ground segment &; user segment

Launch vehicles and associated systems or subsystems, creation of spaceports for launching and receiving spacecraft