Leveraging Space Applications for Business Growth across Sectors in India

Indian space sector has undergone a transformative growth, offering substantial opportunities for businesses across diverse industries. Valued at USD 8.4 billion in 2022, it is renowned for cost-effective and technology-driven technologies and solutions.

Potential for Significant Growth: Demand Creation outside of Space Industry

While the market share of the Indian space sector is currently 2% of the global market, the “Decadal Vision and Strategy for the Development of the Indian Space Economy” by the Government of India envisions an ambitious target of 8% of global space economy within the next decade. Achieving the targeted growth requires a focus on demand creation, capacity building, and fostering private sector participation across the entire space economy, particularly in downstream services. Leveraging space technologies, originally developed for defence, navigation, and strategic purposes, across industries can drive innovation, boost productivity, and unlock new opportunities. Sectors such as agriculture, food processing, BFSI, urban development, real estate & infrastructure, logistic and energy, stand to benefits, contributing to the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of a Vikshit Bharat.

Role of IN-SPACe : Accelerating Adoption of Space Applications

The Government of India embarked on the landmark space reforms in 2020 and constituted the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) under the Department of Space with a mandate to enable and accelerate the participation of the private sector in the full range of space activities.

Aligned with its ‘Decadal Vision’ for the space economy, IN-SPACe is actively raising awareness about the transformative benefits of space data products and services across government, private, and retail sectors. As part of this initiative, IN-SPACe is launching a demand generation campaign through Space Applications Adoption Workshops (SAAWs) across diverse themes such as agriculture, food processing, disaster management, water resources, energy, mining, urban and rural development, BFSI, and more in the coming months.

Application of Space technologies and Success Stories

Space technologies are driving innovation across diverse industries. These advancements are fostering efficiency, sustainability, and growth across key sectors.

• Agriculture and Food Processing: Enabling precision farming, improved weather forecasting, risk mitigation, crop monitoring, efficient water management, supply chain optimization, and reduced post-harvest losses.
• Logistics: Revolutionizing operations with satellite navigation, real-time communication, and advanced monitoring for optimized routes, enhanced weather forecasting, and efficient asset tracking.
• Banking and Financial Services: Supporting secure communication, risk assessment for loans, and market insights through space weather data. In insurance, aiding in accident risk prediction.
• Real Estate and Infrastructure: Facilitating precise land-use planning, efficient site selection, real-time construction management, urban planning, and connectivity in remote areas.
• Energy: Enhancing resource monitoring, grid management, and providing critical insights for renewable energy development.

In India, industries are leveraging space technology to enhance business operations. For instance, ICICI Bank uses satellite data to assess farmers’ creditworthiness by analysing land, irrigation, and crop patterns, enabling faster, more informed lending decisions. Similarly, Kotak Mahindra Bank is leveraging space technologies to enhance its agricultural lending practices. By utilizing satellite imagery and analytics, the bank assesses parameters such as crop health, land use patterns, and irrigation status. This data-driven approach enables accurate risk assessment, streamlines credit disbursement, and reduces dependency on physical field inspections.

Another example is the SatSure— a space startup that integrates data from satellite imagery and IoT devices to try and map farm output in real time and correlate this with inputs like seed quality, water and fertiliser usage.

CII Role : Driving the Growth of Space technologies

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), through its National Committee on Space, has been actively promoting industry participation through policy advocacy, stakeholder engagement, and fostering international collaborations. The committee has undertaken the efforts of promoting the adoption of space technologies across Indian industries, enhancing their demand and impact.

Conclave on Demand Creation across sectors

To further strengthen this vision, CII and IN-SPACe are jointly organising a Conclave on Demand Creation for Space Applications- “Leveraging Space Applications for Business Growth across Sectors,” with the objective of understanding the adoption of space technologies in businesses. This conclave aims to facilitate industries in India to integrate these technologies into their businesses, with focus on agriculture, food processing, logistics, banking and insurance, urban planning, real estate and infrastructure, power infrastructure and energy, and more.

Explore further at: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/cii4space/