Why in news? The Department of Space’s Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) announced a seed fund scheme aimed at promoting space technology in the country.

Highlights:

• Under the new scheme, IN-SPACe which has been formed to promote, enable, authorize and supervise non-government entities to undertake space activities.
• It will provide a grant upto 1 crore to select start-ups on milestone basis, in three or more instalments.
• The scheme will enable space start-ups to demonstrate their novel idea and move to the next level, where they can seek loans from commercial banks or financial institutions or funding from investors.
• The exact quantum of grant and instalments for each start-up shall be decided by the Experts Committee (EC) based on the progress of the project.
• The EC, constituted by the Chairman IN-SPACe, shall consist of members from IN-SPACe Board, IN-SPACe, senior government officials, industry and venture capitalists.

What are the guidelines for the scheme?

• As per the Guidelines for IN-SPACe Seed Fund Scheme for Indian Start-ups, only Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) registered start-ups are eligible to apply for the seed fund.
• Besides, the shareholding in the start-up by Indian’s (employees, promoters and angel investors) should be at least 80% and the company should not have gone through a funding round.
• Investment from venture capitalists is permitted.
• The guidelines further stated that the start-ups should not have received more than 50 lakh of monetary support under any other Union or State government schemes.

About Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN–SPACe)

• It is a single-window autonomous agency under the Department of Space of the Government of India.
• The Union Cabinet led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the historic decision in June 2020 to open up the Space sector and enable the participation of Indian private sector in the entire gamut of space activities
• It is a single-window, independent, nodal agency functions as an autonomous agency in Department of Space (DOS), boosting the private space sector economy in India.
• Minister responsible for IN–SPACe is Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India and Minister of Space