Government measures such as tax exemptions and holidays for companies directly or indirectly engaged in space sector activities will help in further promoting the growth of the sector, a report said on Thursday. The Deloitte India-CII report also suggested to undertake a detailed study on the tax reforms for supporting the industry growth as well as making the end products fiercely competitive in the global market.

“While the Indian government has started to provide tax impetus to the space sector, it needs to take more initiatives for tax exemptions/tax holidays/accelerated depreciation for companies directly or indirectly engaged in space sector activities, so that the benefits are available to the entire value chain and there is no embedded tax cost,” it said.

It added that an in-depth study on global initiatives and their impact on the sector and, benchmarking with India should be undertaken to further develop and outline additional initiatives and to refresh the Indian Space Policy 2023 periodically.

“Given the importance of a standardised and comprehensive approach, a dedicated study aimed at defining the Indian space economy using consistent methodology should be undertaken. An in-depth study on India’s capabilities across the value chain of the space sector should (also) be done,” the report said.

Different sources ascribe different market sizes of the Indian space economy, leading to disparities in reported figures.

It added that the market size estimations for both the global and Indian space economies play a crucial role in influencing decisions related to space policies, budget allocations, and investment strategies for governments, companies, and private investors. Further, it said that Indian space agency ISRO has been actively engaged in collaborations with academic institutions and research labs right from its inception, aimed at fostering the development of space technologies and facilitating ground-level research. There is a need to expand the reach of these collaborations to more remote institutes and research labs, it said, adding the existing collaborations should also expand the scope of research to futuristic technologies.

Such an expansion is essential for retaining valuable talent within the Indian space sector and ensuring its sustained growth, the report added.

Sreeram Ananthasayanam, Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, said that India’s space sector stands on the brink of a transformative journey, with reforms poised to stimulate supply and demand in the space economy.

“The government’s forward-looking policies have paved the way for private entities to actively participate in core space activities. This marks a shift from a government-centric ecosystem to a much more democratised ecosystem where private efforts complement government efforts,” he said.