'Antrix led to revenue loss of Rs 1.9 cr'

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the government auditor, has rapped Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), under the Department of Space (DoS), for giving undue agency commissions to Antrix Corporation for selling satellite data. This has resulted in a revenue loss of Rs 1.44 crore to 1.92 crore to the department, CAG has said. Antrix is the commercial arm of Isro.

Further, Antrix is yet to pay (till July 2009) an amount of Rs 93 lakh to the department.

This is the second instance within a space of few months when DoS and Antrix have come under the scanner. Earlier, it was because of the controversial S-Band deal between Antrix and Devas Multimedia. The deal is believed to have caused revenue losses to the exchequer.

In its latest report on the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), a unit of DoS, CAG said “there was a reduction of revenue/ loss of interest due to irregular fixation / delayed fixation of agency commission payable to Antrix Corporation Ltd (ACL) in the sale of satellite data.”

It was observed in the report that NRSC was paying additional commission charges of 15 to 20 per cent to Antrix. And this resulted in reduction of the NRSC revenue in the range of Rs 1.44 crore to Rs 1.92 crore during 2004-05 to 2007-08. NRSC is the nodal agency for operational sensing activities and the sole authority to acquire process and disseminate the remotely sensed satellite data products within India.