ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission best boost for Make in India: Corporate chieftains

NEW DELHI: Lauding the country's successful Mars mission, India Inc today said that it is easily the best example of ' Make in India', a campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to encourage the domestic manufacturing industry.

"What better inspiration can all of us get than the achievements of Indian scientists on the Mars Orbitor Mission. If I think about the cost in layman's terms, it is less than Rs 7 per kilometre or the cost to travel in autorickshaws in major cities," Mukesh Ambani said at the lauch of Make in India campaign today.

Scripting space history, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) yesterday successfully placed its low-cost Mars spacecraft in orbit around the red planet in its very first attempt, breaking into an elite club of three nations.

"Nobody can question the talent of our people... especially after yesterday (after the launch of Mars mission)," the Prime Minister said.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, said: "The launch of Make in India mission coincides with the spectacular success of Mangalyaan's Mars Mission, India's triumph in outer space embodies frugal home grown engineering through zero defects, teamwork, precision and it is by any reckoning a worldclass achievement."

"When we talk of cost there is no better example than MOM (Mars Orbiter Mission), today with a lot of pride we can all stand here and claim that India's indigenous science and production technology skills that are orbiting the planet Mars," Chanda Kocchar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, ICICI Bank said here.

"The entire initiative has been achieved in about USD 74 million compared to USD 670 million spent by NASA for a similar mission," she said.