“Today is the day the Indian space sector receives new wings. For 75 years since independence, Indian space has been dominated by a single umbrella of Indian government and government institutions. Scientists of India have made huge achievements in these decades, but the need of the hour is that there should be no restrictions on Indian talent, whether it is in the public sector or in the private sector,” Modi said while inaugurating the industry body.

Represented by founding members such as Larson & Toubro, Nelco (Tata Group), OneWeb, Bharti Airtel, MapmyIndia, Walchandnagar Industries and Ananth Technology Ltd and other members like Godrej, Hughes India, Azista-BST Aerospace Pvt Ltd, BEL, Centum Electronics and Maxar India, the organisation aims to “engage with stakeholders across the ecosystem for the formulation of an enabling policy framework”, said a government release.

OneWeb, backed by Bharti Group, announced that it entered an arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO, to launch its satellite in India from 2022.

OneWeb is building its initial constellation of 648 low-earth orbit satellites and has already put 322 satellites into orbit. Its services are expected to start this year to the Arctic region including Alaska, Canada, and the UK. By late 2022, it will offer its high-speed, low latency connectivity services in India and the rest of the world.