In a bid to encourage private sector participation in space sector, New Space India Limited (NSIL) had invited proposals from the Indian industry to build five PSLVs. State-run Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited too has submitted a proposal

New Delhi: The government on Thursday said Adani Enterprises Limited and L&T are part of two consortia led by state-run enterprises that have evinced interest in building the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the ISRO's warhorse rocket to put satellites in orbit.

In a bid to encourage private sector participation in the space sector, New Space India Limited (NSIL), a company under the Department of Space, had invited proposals from the Indian industry to build five PSLVs.

Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh said two consortia, one comprising Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Larsen & Toubro, and another involving Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) and Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), have submitted techno-commercial proposals for building PSLV.

State-run Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited too has submitted a techno-commercial proposal for "end-to-end realisation" of PSLV, he told the Rajya Sabha in response to a question by NCP member Vandana Chavan.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had been working closely with the industry in building launch vehicles, satellites and other components, but it was for the first time in 2020 that the government opened up the sector for private participation for the entire spectrum of space operations, including planetary exploration missions.

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) acts as the agency to promote, handhold and authorise private sector activities in the sector, besides enabling sharing of technical facilities and expertise from ISRO.

NSIL has the mandate to scale up private participation in the space programme and also own and operate capital-intensive assets such as satellites and launch vehicles.

Mr Singh told Rajya Sabha that since 2020, there have been 48 applications from private players received to IN-SPACe for undertaking space activities and their applications are being processed for further action.

"Out of these, the applications with respect to authorizing the space activities to non-government private entities are 16, sharing of technology and facilities of Department of Space to NGPEs are 23 and Consultancy and Promotion are 9," he said in a written response.