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Interim Budget 2019: Department of Space funds increased to Rs 11,538 cr

However, the sum to be allocated for developing and building INSAT and GSAT satellites was proposed to be cut for 2019-20

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ISRO's PSLV-C42 carrying two earth observing satellites, NovaSAR and S1-4 of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), UK, ready to be launched from Sathish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018.

T E Narasimhan Chennai

Last Updated : Feb 04 2019 | 11:47 PM IST

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal allocated Rs 11,538.26 crore to the Department of Space in the Interim Budget for 2019-20. The development comes in the backdrop of upcoming important space programmes, including sending an Indian astronaut to space by 2022 and Chandrayaan-2, among others.

According to the Budget papers, a sum of Rs 11,538.26 crore has been proposed for the Department of Space for 2019-20, up from Rs 11,200 crore as per the revised estimates for 2018-19.

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The funds proposed towards space technology have increased to Rs 7,482.59 crore for 2019-20, up from Rs 6,992.60 crore as per revised estimates for 2018-19.

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The space technology head consists of activities related to different centres of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), including the newly formed Human Spaceflight Centre.

However, the sum to be allocated for developing and building INSAT/GSAT satellites was proposed to be cut to Rs 884.42 crore for 2019-20, down from Rs 1,330.20 crore as per revised estimates for 2018-19.