The government has set up a new wholly-owned company - New Space India Limited (NSIL) - for commercial exploitation of space research and development which will spur the growth in the sector, the Rajya Sabha was told on Thursday.

NSIL has been incorporated on March 6, 2019 as a wholly owned Government of India Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the administrative control of Department of Space (DOS) to commercially exploit the research and development work of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Union Minister of State (MoS) for Space Jitendra Singh said in the Parliament.

"With the activity plan and the mandate set for NSIL, Indian industries are likely to see a major spur in their growth in the space sector. This initiative would further enable scaling up the manufacturing and production base in Indian industries towards meeting the growing needs of Indian space programme and exploiting the opportunities available in the global space market," Singh was quoted as saying in a government statement.

Mandate of NSIL includes small satellite technology transfer to industry wherein the company will obtain license from ISRO and sub-license it to industries; manufacture of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) in collaboration with private sector; productionisation of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) through Indian Industry; productionisation and marketing of pace based services, including launch and application; transfer of technology developed by ISRO Centres and constituent institutions of DOS; and marketing of spin-off technologies and products, both in India and abroad, he said.

The minister said with the activity plan and the mandate set for NSIL, Indian industries are likely to see a major spur in their growth in the space sector.

"This initiative would further enable scaling up the manufacturing and production base in Indian industries towards meeting the growing needs of Indian space programme and exploiting the opportunities available in the global space market," he said.

He further said that all the involved technologies related to ISRO’s small satellite and its sub-systems that could be transferred to Indian industries for productionisation which eventually would cater to national demand as well as commercial needs of domestic and global market.

This activity is also likely to give rise to several spin-off technologies that could be marketed nationally and globally, he added.

Through the sale of products related to small satellite, sub-system technology and the spin off products in domestic and global market, foreign exchange revenue will be generated, he further said.