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Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Rajesh Kumar Singh has said that the government is looking at further easing foreign direct investment (FDI) norms in the space sector to attract overseas players. He said ‘there is tremendous scope for collaboration such as in artificial intelligence, robotics, cyber security, automation and space, where we are looking to further liberalise our foreign direct investment norms to bring in private sector and foreign investment in our space sector’.

Singh stated that presently FDI in space sector is allowed up to 100 per cent in the area of satellites establishment and operations through government route only. He also said that several Saudi Arabian companies have invested in Indian wind and solar energy sectors. He said ‘we look forward for collaboratively working with you and there is also tremendous scope for collaboration between Saudi Arabian military industry and make in India campaign, which can enable us to work on joint collaboration on defence projects of mutual interest.’

On trade front, DPIIT secretary said that the bilateral trade between the two countries has reached $52.8 billion in 2022-23. India's exports stood at $10.7 billion in the last fiscal as against $8.8 billion in 2021-22. The bilateral trade was $43 billion in 2021-22.