Chennai, Feb 1 (Reporter) The Indian Space Association (ISpA) welcomed the Union Budget and said the announcement of the National Geospatial Mission showed the growing commitment of the government to use the downstream capabilities of the space tech sector. Director General Lt. Gen. AK Bhatt said "We welcome the announcement in the Union Budget to facilitate the modernization of land records, urban planning, and design of infrastructure projects under this crucial mission it is good to see how the industry and the government have realized the importance of these emerging technologies." Even former ISRO Chairman S. Somanath last year stressed the need to focus on developing downstream capabilities to generate demand and attract investments in upstream activities like satellite development and launch services in India's space sector, Lt.Gen Bhatt pointed out. According to the ISpA-nasscom-Deloitte report, the market for the downstream space tech segment is expected to reach USD 610 billion by 2031. The Budget's focus on setting up National CoE for skilling is an exciting announcement which would help in upskilling our growing youth talent which is in dire need of these measures to compete on a global level. He said the announcements around New Fund of Funds (FoF) for startups, setting up of 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs, an enhanced Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups and the DeepTech Fund of Funds will give further push to the growing startup ecosystem including the space startups which are at a nascent stage...////...