India to fund new space technologies including space tourism from Technology Adoption Fund

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), the regulator for private sector players in India’s space industry, has called for proposals to be funded from the Rs.500 crore (about $57 million) Technology Adoption Fund (TAF) to develop innovative space technologies including for space tourism.

IN-SPACe aims to foster commercialisation of the space sector by promoting start-ups, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and large industries to develop space products which in turn shall lead to scaling up manufacturing to meet the Global and Domestic Space Sector demands. According to IN-SPACe, start-ups will be funded partially to transform early-stage technologies into commercially viable products.

The funding would be up to 60% for startups/MSME and 40% for large industry of the project cost, subject to a maximum of Rs.25 crore per project.

The funded companies can capitalize their intellectual property (IP) and commercialize their innovations on their own or by licensing a third party and sharing the revenue with IN-SPACe in a fixed formula.

What the Technology Adoption Fund is looking for

The proposals shall be primarily focused on serving the needs of the space-sector. The proposal should be able to contribute to the Indian space economy in one or more of the below mentioned categories.

According to IN-SPACe, the TAF scheme is open for five years from the date of issue of this call for proposal or till the funds under the scheme are fully utilised, whichever comes earlier.

The funding will be for the following segments:

• Earth Observation/Navigation/Communication Satellite,
• Space Based Ground Applications,
• Launch Vehicles,
• Human Space Flight/Space Tourism,
• Space Situational Awareness & In-Orbit Space Economy and Exploration,
• Ground Segment and
• Any other Classification related to Space Sector.

All the proposals will be reviewed and assessed by an expert committee based on the Commercial Viability, Domestic and International demand, Potential Socio-Economic Impact, Technical Feasibility, Innovation, current maturity, Past experience, Facilities Availability, Financial Capability, Business Plan, Technical Expertise, Intellectual Property (IP) Portfolio and others, IN-SPACe said.

The Indian government is pushing the private sector to step up efforts to come out with innovative solutions.

In 2024, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting the country’s budget for 2024-25 had announced setting up of Rs.1,000 crore venture capital (VC) fund to finance the space economy.

This year, when presenting the nation’s budget for 2025-26, Sitharaman scrapped import duties on components for making satellites, rockets, and focused on the geospatial sector.

Presenting the budget in the Parliament Sitharaman said the reduction in customs duty on various products was to reduce input costs, deepen value addition, promote export competitiveness, correct inverted duty structure, boost domestic manufacturing and others.

As regards the space sector, the import duty for products used in the building of launch vehicles and launching of satellites has been reduced to zero from the existing five percent. Similarly the import duty on ground installation for satellites including its spares and consumables has been brought to zero.

Apart from the government owned Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India now has two private rocket makers and a couple of satellite makers.

Sitharaman also said: “We will start a National Geospatial Mission to develop geospatial infrastructure and data. Using PM (Prime Minister) Gati Shakti (National Master Plan for Multi Modal Connectivity) this Mission will facilitate modernisation of land records, urban planning, and design of infrastructure projects.”