India, June 8 -- India's space economy, currently close to $9 billion, is expected to expand to about $45 billion over the next seven to eight years, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Sunday.

The minister also stated that India's space startup ecosystem has grown from a single-digit number of startups a few years ago to around 400 today.

"The Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government has opened strategic sectors such as space and parts of the nuclear ecosystem to private participation, ending decades of restricted access," Singh said.

He made these comments while reflecting on the last 12 years of the Modi Government during an interaction with the media.

"The change of mindset that has happened in the last 12 years under Prime Minis...