India’s space economy is prepared for growth set to exceed $80 billion by 2040, according to Union Minister Jitendra Singh.

“Prime Minister Modi has broken the taboos of the past, and sometimes I wonder why this couldn’t have happened earlier. At the same time, even at the physical level, it has increased funding, and it has enthused the private sector and the industry. Within just 3-4 years, we have more than 150 startups,” Singh stated. 

The minister highlighted India’s track record in space commerce, with the successful launch of 380 foreign satellites, generating revenues of over €250 million and $170 million from the launch of US satellites.

“Overall, India’s Space economy today stands at about $ 8 billion, viz 2% of the global (market share) but the entire world is recognising increased pace and that’s why the conservative projections are $40 billion by 2040, but the other day, about 2-3 days back, we had the ADL (Arthur D Little) Report, which mentions that we could have the potential of $100 Billion by 2040, which is going to be a gigantic jump. And that’s what the world is now expecting because we’ve started moving very fast. Our launchings are also very frequent,” Singh added.

The minister went on to say that the Gaganyaan’s first trial flight will take place within the first two weeks in October after the launch of the first Sun Mission “Aditya-L1” on 2 September, Mint News reports.

Ahead of the first human mission, the second trial will feature a robot, “Vyommitra”, onboard the Gaganyaan.

Rejecting the idea that India is competing with any other country in space exploration, the minister said the Indian Space Research Organisation is working with leading space agencies and has launched numerous satellites of private foreign entities and educational institutions.