Private, unlimited

Indo-US tech deals expand scope for private sector

The big-ticket tech deals signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US, such as the joint venture with Micron Technologies and the General Electric-Hindustan Aeronautics tech-transfer agreement for fighter aircraft engines, appeared to benefit the government sector principally. But one constructive, if largely unnoticed, benefit of other agreements in the technology space is the major opportunities that have opened up for the Indian private sector. For instance, among the consequential treaties India signed was the Artemis Accords, the US-led initiative to foster international cooperation for space exploration to the moon and Mars. The headline news in this agreement, between the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), is a joint effort to put an Indian astronaut on the moon and conduct a joint mission to the International Space Station by 2024. Just as Nasa’s lunar and other space missions created one of the most dynamic private-sector ecosystems in cutting-edge technology through two-way technology and R&D transfers, the collaboration with Isro could expand India’s modest space-military complex by several orders of magnitude. That apart, giant private aerospace corporations working on advanced space and defence technologies also revolve around the Nasa network such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Boeing, and others that focus on space tourism, such as Orion Span or Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.

Compared to that commanding presence, India’s share in the $360 billion global space economy is hardly 2 per cent, according to government estimates. With stiff competition from China, Russia, Germany, and Japan, among others, India may be a tad late to the game. Still, there are promising prospects. For instance, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), India’s largest engineering firm, has announced that it is in talks with Blue Origin for possible collaboration in orbital launch capabilities for the low-cost, reusable launch vehicles the US giant is developing for commercial and defence use. L&T is already a major player in the domestic defence and space business, providing engines to Isro from its Coimbatore facility. To be sure, Isro’s technology transfers have also created a modest ecosystem of exclusive private tech suppliers. In 2019, it built on this by creating a commercial arm called NewSpace India Ltd with the objective of enabling Indian industry to take up high-tech space-related activities and promoting the commercial exploitation of products and services emanating from the Indian space programme. The collaborations under the Artemis Accords could take this initiative to another level.

Beyond space, India’s entry into the US-led Mineral Security Partnership has also seen some early action. Mumbai-headquartered Epsilon Advanced Materials has become the first Indian firm to set up a unit producing critical battery parts for electric vehicles in the US under the aegis of this treaty. This $650 million project to make synthetic graphite anodes is expected to boost the supply chain for critical minerals and also give India a head-start in developing an ecosystem for electric vehicle parts that could help wean domestic industry from its risky dependence on China. Both these initial moves are in sectors critical to India’s manufacturing future, offering the chance of a high-tech leap. It is important that the government builds on these initiatives constructively so that the opportunities do not fritter away as they did after the Indo-US nuclear deal.