Orbiting Opportunities: Harnessing the Economic Potential of India’s Space Exploration
Niyati Sinojiya
SY B.Sc. 2022-25
Reading time: 3 minutes
For years, Space exploration has been dominated by developed countries like the US, Russia, EU and Japan. Only recently has India come to the forefront of space exploration, with its missions to Mars and the Moon. Although there has been worldwide appreciation for India’s success in these missions, international finds it difficult to reconcile the idea of a poverty-stricken nation like India allocating resources to space exploration rather than prioritizing poverty alleviation.
This might sound like a valid argument as there is always an opportunity cost to consider. Investing in aerospace entails not investing in essential areas such as welfare, healthcare and education. Should we instead be allocating these funds towards these vital sectors rather than on aerospace industry, which may not be deemed a necessity?
Let’s try answering this question by delving deeper into the impact that the space economy has on the country.
There are 2 ways of thinking about this.
Firstly, the most straightforward way of thinking about this is the direct impact it has on the economy. This includes creation of new high skilled jobs, rising incomes and consumption, thereby leading to higher tax collection by the government and consequently more funds to spend on infrastructure and welfare.
Sources suggest that the space economy of India is currently valued at $8.4 billion (domestic share of $8.1 billion and export share of $0.3 billion) and is set to reach $12.85 billion by 2025. There has been a huge jump in the number of private companies that deliver services related to the space sector from just 11 in 2019 to 400 as of 2023.
The recent success of the Chandrayaan 3 mission has positioned India favorably in the realm of space component manufacturing. This comes as no surprise given India’s ability to succeed in the missions at significantly lower costs than any country has been able to achieve so far. The combination of the Make in India initiative and the introduction of Production Linked Incentives has the potential to further accelerate growth in this sector. With the right investments, India has the potential to not only be known as the IT hub of the world but also establish itself as a leader in space technology, offering high quality services to other nations as well.
Knowledge of the space technology not only impacts the space sector but also extends its benefits to other industries. Agriculture, for instance, not only relies on on-ground information but also benefits from a bird’s eye view provided by space technology. This technology can be used to monitor crop production, enabling rapid responses to bad production by minimizing the effects of food shortages and the risks of famines. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare, since the early 80’s has been funding various projects under which ISRO developed methods of crop production forecasting. One such innovation is precision agriculture, empowering farmers to tailor their farming methods to specific parts of the field, thereby reducing the wastage of resources and enhancing agricultural efficiency.
Secondly, there is a somewhat unconventional perspective of thinking about this. We see millions of people in India devoting prime years of their lives to prepare for the UPSC exam or pursuing careers that their communities or surroundings deem ideal. This has led to many educated people refraining from entering the labor force because of the time commitment it requires to prepare for these exams. This phenomenon is what Economist Sandeep Sanyal calls “Poverty of Aspirations”.
He explains that it is not poverty that is leading people to take these exams but the other way round. It is in fact the poverty of aspirations, the lack of ambition to pursue other careers, which leads to poverty.
If a UPSC aspirant instead, were to invest the same time and effort to become something out of the ordinary, say a space scientist or any other profession, we would have much better utilization of efforts and a much more efficient use of the human resource. It will lead to a society where people not only aspire to become civil servants but also dream of innovation, entrepreneurship, acting, design and various other pursuits.
How do we change the fundamental way in which society thinks? This is where things like constructing big infrastructures and launching rockets adorned with the Indian flag come into picture. The idea that because we are poor, we need to act poor and dream poor dreams has to be removed from the minds of the people. There needs to be widening of perspectives. The fact that a middle class Indian now aspires to send his child to a university which teaches space technology is the change we need to see countrywide. A child from a humble background should be able to aspire to become something more than a civil servant or a local politician, and these aspirations are fueled when the country as a whole achieves extraordinary feats. This widening of aspirations is one way people can envision escaping poverty.
Therefore, what the international media seems to have assumed is that investing in aerospace seems to have no impact on reducing poverty and transforming lives. Let’s challenge this assumption. Let’s acknowledge the profound implications and the cascading benefits that space technology creates – the jobs it generates, the minds it inspires and the futures it transforms. Let’s strive to create a nation where every Indian dares to dream.