The Goods and Services Tax Council will treat the international satellite launch services of Antrix Corporation (the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation) as export services and bringing it under zero tax rate.

Speaking at a ceremony to celebrate 25 years of Antrix, S Rakesh, Chairman and Managing Director, said: “The tax concession will definitely help us; the notification is yet to come out. But the domestic tax rate is unchanged and applicable at 18 per cent.”

The concession will give us greater opportunity to push some of the newer launches of vehicles such as GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle).

“The delay in granting the export service status had raised some concerns because a lot of cheaper launch vehicles had been coming into the market.”

Now, Antrix will be the most cost effective satellite launcher, he said: “But with cheap vehicles coming into the market, we are bit concerned.

AS Kiran Kumar, Chairman, ISRO said: “We currently work with a lot of Indian industries. One of the things we require Antrix to do is to provide services to more international companies working in the space sector; that is where we want Antrix Corporation to enable the industry.”

He added: “We want to enable Indian industries to take a greater role in space business.”

Jamshyd Godrej, Managing Director of Godrej & Boyce, speaking about his association as a board member of Antrix, said only ISRO considers the private sector as a strategic partner.

K Radhakrishnan, former Chairman of Antrix, said: “The global space industry is valued at $260 billion; our share is 0.123 per cent of the global business. We need to grow at a faster pace. By 2020, we should aim to double our existing business. We should aim to reach 1 per cent of the global space market in absolute terms — that will be a significant achievement.”

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