"17 million USD, 78.5 Million Euros earned through launching of satellites of foreign countries under commercial arrangement by ISRO"

 The information was given by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in reply to question in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

"Till date, 45 satellites from 19 countries have been successfully launched using ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), under commercial arrangement. The total income earned through launching of these satellites of foreign countries amounts to approximately 17 Million USD and 78.5 Million Euros. The launch missions conducted by ISRO for launching Indian satellites are intended for National development," he said.

"The Antrix has signed agreements for launching 28 more foreign satellites from 6 countries viz., Algeria (3), Canada (4), Germany (4), Indonesia (2), Singapore (6) and USA (9). The launches of these foreign satellites are envisaged during 2015-2017 time period. Further, discussions with foreign agencies/companies are ongoing for providing launch services to their satellites on-board ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)," he said.

The images received from the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites (RESOURCESAT-2, RISAT-1 and CARTOSAT-1) are marketed globally by Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), the commercial arm of Department of Space, through International Ground Stations established outside India.

The IRS images of region outside India received and processed at ISRO’s Ground Station are also marketed to global customers through Antrix.

The Government is planning to provide space based systems for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries.

The objective of this satellite project is to develop a satellite for SAARC region that enables a full range of applications and services to all our neighbours in the areas of telecommunication and broadcasting applications viz. Television, Direct-to-Home (DTH), Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs), Tele-education, Telemedicine and Disaster Management.

While the cost towards building and launching the satellite will be met by Government of India, cost towards ground systems are expected to be sourced by the respective SAARC countries.