ISRO wants to pass on its knowhow to private players

Speaking on the sidelines of the just-concluded Indian Science Congress, Kasturirangan, who was also the general president of the mega event, said:‘‘Indian industries will have to take up more and more role in providing the services which ISRO does today.’’ This, he said, will give ISRO more time to focus on its core competence, ‘‘which is doing research and concentrating on national missions’’.

And while most successful public sector enterprises shudder at the thought of privatisation, ISRO is already scouting for industry partners.

‘‘We should not be afraid of privatisation, since ISRO is best suited to extend the frontiers of knowledge and assembly production is a job of the industry,’’ the ISRO chairman said.

He believes that ISRO will be ‘‘at a dead end’’ if technologies are not transferred to Indian industries soon enough. Kasturirangan said it should not be difficult for the private sector to take up the challenge, as 70 per cent of the components that go into the making of polar satellite launch vehicles (PSLVs) are now made by local manufacturers.

Over the past few years, the industry, from being a mere supplier of small components, has graduated to full assemblies. Case in point is the giant Vikas engine of the PSLV made by Godrej.

Some hi-tech facilities for producing rocket fuel at the launch pad coming up at Sriharikota are also being manufactured on a turn-key basis.

According to NASA representative, Dr James Dodge, a significant outcome of the space summit organised at the Indian Science Congress, will be the holding of a joint Indo-US meeting on space technology towards the end of this year. Significantly, industry partners from both India and America will participate in the proceedings on an equal-footing.

This shows that the Indian industry is capable of taking on the challenge and showing the world that it is capable of providing high-quality space technology, Dodge said.

‘‘In the satellite manufacturing sector, almost 40 per cent of components are supplied by local industries today,’’ said K.R. Sridhara Murthi, director of Antrix Corporation, ISRO’s commercial technology transfer arm.

In the past three years, revenues earned by Antrix Corporation has increased at the rate of 50 per cent annually and stands at US $28 million now. This shows that technology transfer is already taking place.

The industries already making sophisticated components for ISRO include private sector giants like Larsen & Toubro, Godrej and Boyce, Walchandnagar Industries, Kirloskar, Bharat Electronics Limited, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and MTAR Industries, Hyderabad.

‘‘More and more private sector participation is ISRO’s mantra,’’ Murthi said, adding that the entire solar array of satellites are today manufactured by BHEL.