Firms pump Rs 1,200cr: Bid that won PPP project for 12 Earth Observation satellites quoted Rs 0; Pixxel-led team wins deal

BENGALURU: In what's unprecedented, the L1 quotation (lowest bid) by a consortium that won a project for 12 Earth Observation (EO) satellites - implemented as a PPP by IN-SPACe - is 0 (zero rupees).The consortium comprising Pixxel, PierSight, SatSure, and Dhruva, which will bear the financial cost of the project, will invest more than 1,200 crore in the next four-five years on this.Pawan Goenka, chairman of IN-SPACe, told TOI in a one-on-one interaction: "Obviously this was a competitive bid and each of the bidders would have evaluated the value of the opportunity to build this constellation. In the judgment of the winning bidder, they decided that even if they don't get any money from the govt, it is important for them to get this opportunity to develop it and, therefore, they see a good financial opportunity in this constellation."Terming it a very big endorsement of how the private sector sees the future of space economy in India, he said: "... for a consortium to come forward and commit to invest more than 1,200 crore of their own money with a full expectation, obviously, that they will more than recover their investment over a period of time. So, I think it's very, very positive news that the winning bidder has bid only zero."As reported by TOI on Wednesday, the constellation of 12 satellites will feature a mix of sub-metre very high-resolution, wide-swath multispectral, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and hyperspectral satellites, enabling applications like precision agriculture, water quality monitoring, land-use mapping, environmental compliance, disaster assessment, maritime operations, national security, and infrastructure development. The project will be implemented through a special purpose vehicle (SPV)."We have a time limit of 90 days for signing the agreement starting yesterday. Hopefully, we sign much before that. As per the RFP, the lead player must have at least 26% ownership and each consortium member at least 10%. It will be a legal entity formed with well-defined roles for each of the four members," he said.