Blue, space economy to add value in India's growth: Jitendra Singh

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said lesser explored areas like ocean resources and space will do value addition in the future economy of the country.

Addressing a meeting here, he said one of the hallmarks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's approach towards the economy has been that he has reinforced and strengthened the existing pillars of the economy by imposing a check on pilferage or malpractice and reduced a load of avoidable restrictions and regulations for ease of business.

The prime minister also introduced new dimensions to the Indian economy, which hardly received any attention from previous governments even though these were important, the Minister of State for Personnel said.

"Blue economy and space economy are among some of the new concepts introduced in last nine years by the prime minister," he said.

If India has to compete globally, it will have to stand up to global parameters and the value addition to the future economy of the country will also come from lesser explored areas like ocean resources and space, the minister was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry.

"It is also a matter of pride that even though our space journey started several years after countries like USA and Soviet Union, but today, these countries are using our technology provided by Isro (Indian Space Research Organisation) for launching their satellites," he said.

Singh said, 353 out of the total 385 foreign satellites have been launched during the last 9 years and USD 174 million have been earned.

He said that while India as the fastest-growing economy, overtook the United Kingdom, it has also generated revenue by launching their satellites.

"As far as the Blue economy is concerned, Prime Minister Modi spoke about the Deep Sea Mission in his Independence Day address because he wants to make people aware of the Blue wealth that lies hidden under the seabed," Singh said while addressing "Vyapar Sammelan" (Industry and traders' meet) as a part of the month-long campaign to commemorate the nine years of the Modi government.

He urged the business community to adapt to the new culture of business and make maximum use of technology.

The minister said, there is no such technology which is not available in India, but sometimes "we were not able to utilise it because we are not fully aware of it".

"The government today is not only providing ease of business but also offering assistance in developing new entrepreneur products and marketing the same," he said.

The minister particularly called upon the business community to identify potential startups.

He said it goes to the credit of Prime Minister Modi that India stands at number-3 in the world in the startup ecosystem.

"But in order to sustain this, we have to continuously work hard," Singh added.

The minister also hailed the prime minister for the revival of the Khadi business, which has yielded more than Rs 10 lakh crore of turnover, according to the statement.