Industry calls for 100% automatic FDI in satellites

Kolkata: Global satellite builders and communications service providers have called on finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to allow 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) through the automatic route to attract billions of dollars into the space/satellite broadband sectors from the likes of Amazon, Elon Musk’s rocket engine maker SpaceX, Hughes and Telesat, among others.

All FDI proposals in the satellites space are currently screened by the Department of Space (DoS) and its internal panel, the Committee for Authorisation of Indian Satellite Systems, a scenario that has held up big-ticket FDI proposals for years, say experts.

“The commercial satellite broadband segment is attracting billions of dollars across the globe from companies like SpaceX, Amazon, Hughes, Inmarsat, Telesat and Viasat, and to attract this investment into India, we recommend 100% FDI be allowed under the automatic route,” said TV Ramachandran, president, Broadband India Forum (BIF), in a May 28 letter to Sitharaman.