How India's Space Economy Is Becoming Digital
India's space programme — historically a state monopoly centred on ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) — has undergone a fundamental governance transformation since 2020. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), established in 2020, provides a regulatory and promotional framework for private sector space activities; the New Space Policy (2023) articulated the government's intent to open the space sector to private enterprise, allowing private companies to design, build, and launch rockets, satellites, and space services without government partnership requirements.
The result has been a rapid growth of the Indian private space sector: Skyroot Aerospace achieved India's first private rocket launch (Vikram-S, November 2022); AgniKul Cosmos successfully tested the world's first single-piece 3D-printed rocket engine in flight (2024); and Pixxel, SatSure, and other startups are building commercial earth observation satellite constellations.
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| Representational Visualisaton: How India's Space Economy Is Becoming Digital |
ISRO's cumulative commercial
launch record (100+ satellites for 34 countries by 2023) makes it a significant
launch service provider; its PSLV rocket is commercially competitive in the
small satellite launch market.
What You Need to Know
- IN-SPACe:
regulatory body for private space activities; authorises launches,
satellite operations, and space services; provides single-window clearance
for space startups; has approved 350+ private space entities since 2020.
- New
Space Policy 2023: articulates government's intent for private sector
space participation; allows private companies to undertake all aspects of
space activities independently; mandates non-exclusive access to ISRO and
DOS facilities; defines government's residual role in strategic (defence)
space.
- Skyroot
Aerospace: first private Indian company to conduct a rocket launch
(Vikram-S, November 22, 2022, Sriharikota); backed by ₹7+ crore in private
investment; developing Vikram-1 for orbital launches; part of a growing
commercial launch services market.
- NavIC:
India's Regional Navigation Satellite System; 7 satellites covering India
and 1,500km surrounding region; replaced GPS requirement in certain
government applications; mandatory in new mobile handsets sold in India
since January 2025 (BIS requirement); used for Indian Ocean maritime
tracking, fleet management, and disaster response.
- Satellite
internet: OneWeb (now Eutelsat OneWeb, with Bharti Enterprises ~22% stake)
received IN-SPACe licence for satellite broadband in India; Starlink
(SpaceX) awaiting licences; Jio Space Technology (Reliance) proposing its
own satellite internet service; satellite internet could provide broadband
to the 60% of gram panchayats not yet covered by BharatNet.
How It Works in Practice
1. ISRO's commercialisation through NSIL: NewSpace
India Limited (NSIL) is ISRO's commercial arm; it sells PSLV and GSLV launch
services to foreign customers; earns revenue from commercial satellite
operations; provides technology transfer to Indian industry. ISRO's 2023
Chandrayaan-3 successful south pole moon landing and Aditya-L1 solar mission
demonstrated ISRO's continued technical excellence; these achievements support
India's commercial launch credentials internationally.
2. Remote sensing data as a commercial service:
ISRO's satellite imagery — from Resourcesat, CartoSat, and EOS series — is
available commercially through NRSC (National Remote Sensing Centre); private
companies (Pixxel, SatSure, BlackSky) are building higher-resolution,
higher-revisit commercial constellations; agricultural monitoring (crop area,
crop health), disaster response (flood mapping, fire detection), and urban
monitoring (construction detection, infrastructure change) are primary
commercial use cases.
3. NavIC and mandatory handset integration: The BIS
requirement for NavIC in all mobile handsets sold in India from January 2025
will gradually make NavIC-based location standard across all Indian
smartphones; this enables NavIC-based navigation, ride-hailing, agriculture,
and logistics applications that reduce dependence on US GPS; the handset
mandate is the most significant NavIC adoption push.
4. Satellite internet for rural broadband: OneWeb's
and Starlink's proposed India services could provide broadband to the
approximately 40% of gram panchayats not yet covered by BharatNet fibre;
satellite internet at ₹2,000–3,000/month (current global pricing) is
significantly more expensive than BharatNet-enabled fixed broadband; the use
case is areas where fibre is economically unviable.
5. Defence space and the DCyA: India's Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed anti-satellite
(ASAT) technology demonstrated in Mission Shakti (2019); the Defence Cyber
Agency (DCyA) has space cyber responsibilities; India's military space
programme — including dedicated military communications satellites — is
distinct from ISRO's civilian programme but growing.
What People Often Misunderstand
- ISRO
is still dominant in Indian space: Despite privatisation, ISRO remains
India's primary space launch and satellite development organisation; the
private sector additions (Skyroot, Agnikul) are significant milestones but
small in overall launch capacity compared to ISRO's operational fleet.
- The
Chandrayaan-3 success was genuine and technically significant: India's
successful soft landing on the lunar south pole (August 23, 2023) was a
genuine technical achievement — only the fourth country to achieve a soft
moon landing and the first to land near the south pole; the achievement
was not primarily commercially driven.
- Satellite
internet is not a competitor to UPI: Satellite internet provides
connectivity; UPI requires mobile banking; the combination enables UPI
access in currently unconnected areas, but the applications are
complementary rather than competitive.
- NavIC's
regional coverage is both a strength and limitation: NavIC's coverage
of India plus a 1,500km surrounding region makes it highly accurate within
India but doesn't provide global coverage for international travel; it is
a regional supplement to GPS, not a global replacement.
- Space
startup valuations reflect future potential, not current revenue:
Indian space startups are early-stage; their current revenue is minimal;
investor valuations reflect expectations for the commercial space market's
growth; actual commercial viability depends on completing developmental
phases that none has yet reached.
What Changes Over Time
ISRO's Gaganyaan crewed spaceflight programme — India's first human spaceflight initiative — is expected to achieve its first crewed mission by 2026–27; a successful crewed mission will further establish India's space credentials and enable future commercial human spaceflight services.
India's planned space station (Bharatiya Antariksha Station) and proposed Moon
landing with Indian astronaut by 2040 will sustain government space investment.
Sources and Further Reading
- PIB
— ISRO and space policy: https://pib.gov.in
- IBEF
— Digital India: https://www.ibef.org/government-schemes/digital-india
- Drishti
IAS — Digital India: https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/10-years-of-digital-india
- Carnegie
Endowment — India Cybersecurity 2025 (space/defence section): https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/09/mapping-indias-cybersecurity-administration-in-2025?lang=en
- ORF
— Decade of Digital India: https://www.orfonline.org/research/a-decade-of-digital-india-mission-achievements-gaps-and-the-way-forward