Indian geospatial economy will grow by 12.8% in 2021: study

An industry study has said that far-reaching changes in the country's geospatial economy are unavoidable over the next three years because of the ongoing policy overhaul.

The Indian geospatial economy is expected to grow from nearly 38,972 crore in 2021 to Rs 52,770 crore in 2025, according to a report titled 'Geospatial Artha: Indian Geospatial Market, Economy and Industrial Development Strategy', released in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

The Indian geospatial economy has the potential of expanding to 63,100 crore at a CAGR of 12.8 per cent if the Central government strengthens its policy support, it said. The report was published by Geospatial World, a news resource on the industry, and was supported by Esri India, a GIS mapping software and spatial data analytics firm.

According to the report's launch, Amit Khare, advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that evolving technologies in the geospatial sector have brought about transformations whereby even an inch of a land can be mapped to provide a solid backup for land reforms. He noted that The COVID 19 vaccination drive in India is a remarkable example of how technology and logistics have been fully supported by the use of geospatial technology. For a while, an archaic framework of rules dating back to the pre-Independence era had prevented the development of a robust geospatial ecosystem in India, despite the country's size, diversity of its geography, a profusion of human inhabitations and a large population.

After Central Government announced five major initiatives to curb the growth of a robust geospatial technology ecosystem, things started moving. Two of the guidelines for Geospatial Data 2021 and Drone Rules 2021 have already been implemented.

Consultations are underway on three policy drafts -- Space-Based Remote Sensing Policy of India -- 2020, National Geospatial Policy -- 2021, and Satellite Navigation Policy -- 2021. These are likely to be finalized by next year.

The former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO, AS Kiran Kumar, said that geospatial technology and geospatial knowledge-base are going to make a significant change in the way India moves forward in adopting this technology. Large amounts of spatial data are already being used in key infrastructure programmes like the National Hydrology Project NHP Bharatmala, AMRUT, Smart Cities, SVAMITVA and National Infrastructure Pipeline NIP In 2021, the geospatial market was dominated by defence and intelligence 14.05 per cent and utilities 11.98 per cent, accounting for 37.98 per cent of the total geospatial market. The two other sectors that contributed were transport infrastructure 9.64 per cent and buildings and campuses 6.80 per cent. These five sectors account for more than 50 per cent of the country s total geospatial market.

By 2025, transport infrastructure is projected to surpass utilities while land administration is expected to replace buildings and campuses to occupy the third and fifth spots, respectively, as priority markets for the geospatial industry.