Cabinet approves transfer of 10 in-orbit communication satellites to public sector enterprise

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet has approved the transfer of 10 in-orbit communication satellites to public sector enterprise NSIL which is under the administrative control of the Department of Space.

In a statement, the cabinet said it has also approved increasing the authorised share capital of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 7,500 crore.

"Transfer of these assets to NSIL will further provide the desired financial autonomy to the company to realise capital intensive programmes/projects and thereby, offering huge employment potential and technology spin-off to other sectors of the economy," it said.

This approval is expected to trigger domestic economic activity in space sector and increase India's share in the global space market, the statement said.

The space sector reforms mandated NSIL to undertake end-to-end commercial space activities and function as a full-fledged satellite operator.

"NSIL functioning as a single-window operator will also facilitate the ease of doing business in the space sector. NSIL Board will now be empowered to price the transponders as per the market dynamics and global trends in the satellite communication sector. NSIL is also authorised to offer and allocate capacity as per its internal policies and guidelines," it added.