Summary and background of the amendment

Initially, para 5.2.12 of the FDI Policy allowed 100 per cent of FDI under the government approval route solely for satellite establishment and operations, subject to the sectoral guidelines of the Department of Space/ Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

With an aim to streamline investment procedures in India and emphasizing various facets of the space sector, the press note has amended para 5.2.12 of the FDI Policy to align with the objectives set forth in the Indian Space Policy, 2023 by segregating the space sector into different sub-categories as follows:

In view of the sub-division of the sector, the press note has added the following definitions to provide more clarity:

a. Satellites-Manufacturing and Operation: End-to-end manufacturing and supply of satellite and/ or payload, establishing the satellite systems including control of in-orbit operations of the satellite and payloads.

b. Satellite Data Products: Reception, generation or dissemination of earth observation/ remote sensing satellite data and data products including Application Interfaces (API).

c. Ground Segment: Supply of satellite transmit/ receive earth stations including earth observation data receive station, gateway, teleports, satellite Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TIC) station, Satellite Control Centre (SCC) etc.

d. User Segment: Supply of user ground terminals for communicating with the satellite, which are not covered under the ground segment.

e. Launch Vehicles and Associated Systems or Subsystems: A vehicle, and its stages or components, that is designed to operate in or place spacecraft with payloads or persons, in a suborbital trajectory, earth orbit or outer space.

f. Creation of Spaceports for launching and receiving Spacecraft: A spaceport (also referred as launch site) that can be regarded as the base from which spacecraft is launched, and consisting of facilities involving devices for transportation to, from and via outer space.

g. Manufacturing of components and systems/ sub-systems for satellites, ground segment and user segment: Comprises of manufacturing and supply of the electrical, electronic, and mechanical components systems/ subsystems for satellites, ground segment and user segment.