The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the transfer of 10 in-orbit communication satellites from the Government of India to NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), a Public Sector Enterprise under the administrative control of the Department of Space. The Union Cabinet has also approved increasing the authorised share capital of NSIL from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 7,500 crore. NSIL is the commercial wing of the Indian Space Research Organisation. "Transfer of these assets to NSIL will further provide the desired financial autonomy to the company to realize capital intensive programmes/projects and thereby offering huge employment potential and technology spin-off to other sectors of the economy. This approval is expected to trigger domestic economic activity in space sector and increase India's share in the global space market," said a cabinet release on Wednesday. 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 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. The Union Cabinet has also approved the signing of several memorandums of understanding, including between India and UAE on cooperation in industries and advanced technologies, between National Institute for Environment Studies in Japan and Aryabhatta Research Institute for Observational Sciences for joint research on air quality and climate change and between India and Australia on technical cooperation for Australia-India Water Security Initiative (AIWASI).
