New Space India Ltd. (NSIL) — ISRO’s commercial arm — will invest ₹2,000 crore every year for the next five years to expand its operations, which also involves hiring an additional 300 people.
“We expect an investment of approximately ₹2,000 crore per year starting next year or the year after, that is the kind investment we are seeking to do. We also see a requirement for 300 new people in five years from now,” said NSIL’s Chairman and Managing Director G. Narayanan in a media conference here on Friday.
NSIL, a Central Public Sector Enterprise, aims to fund its five-year expansion activities through a combination of debt and equity.
D. Radhakrishnan, NSIL’s technical and strategy director, said the company with a paid-up capital of ₹10 crore had a revenue of ₹300 crore in the first year, 2019-20, and ₹400 crore in the second, 2020-21.
Though the company is still in its infancy, Mr. Radhakrishnan said it would ramp up its revenues in the coming years.
The firm is planning to operate and own capital intensive space assets like launch vehicles and satellites in an endeavour to provide complete commercial services. This is expected to help free up top-notch research teams from everyday routine activities and empower them to concentrate on cutting-edge research, as per the company.
The company’s operating model of space-based services would also transition from supply-driven model to demand-driven model, it said.
Meanwhile, NSIL started negotiations with users on communication satellite capacities and to finalise requirements for new satellites, mostly communication satellites.
Mr. Radhakrishnan said the company was in advanced negotiations with players to own two new communication satellites.
“The first satellite is a communication satellite in the domain of DTH and the second is for broadband,” he added.
NSIL has also initiated steps to manufacture polar satellite launch vehicles in collaboration with the industry.
Since its inception, NSIL extended launch services to 45 customer satellites through four PSLV missions. It launched its first commercial mission, Amazonia – 1, an orbiting Brazilian satellite from Sriharikota, a fortnight ago. The launch marked the first dedicated mission of NSIL.
