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Space policy and the private sector

The Indian Space Policy 2023 split the work: the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) keeps research and human spaceflight, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) clears private activity, and NewSpace India Limited sells what is built. Private firms are now building an imaging constellation of their own and have unveiled a frontier rocket engine. Inside ISRO the argument is about pace, and Indian launches remain the dearest in the world.

UPSC has asked

Prelims 2026: private entities in the space programme, including IN-SPACe
Prelims 2018: India's satellite launch vehicles and the orbits they serve
Prelims 2015: uses of Indian Remote Sensing satellites

Who does what since the Indian Space Policy 2023

Indian Space Policy 2023

ISRO
- Research and new technologies
- Share technology with industry
- Human spaceflight roadmap
- Move out of manufacturing operational systems
IN-SPACe
- Authorise launches, satellites, ground stations
- Promote and hand hold industry
- Open access to government facilities
NSIL
- Commercialise publicly developed technology
- Commercial launches for Indian and foreign clients
Non-governmental entities
- End to end space activities
- Build and operate satellites and ground assets

From The Indian Express explainer, 14 September 2026

The policy settled the division of labour in 2023, so the argument since has been about pace rather than direction.
The frontier missions ISRO keeps for itself include Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-4, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035 and a crewed Moon landing by 2040.

What the policy opened

Earth observation data coarser than 5 m is made available free, while finer data is not.
Foreign direct investment is allowed to 74 per cent by the automatic route for satellites, 49 per cent for launch vehicles and spaceports, and 100 per cent for components.
IN-SPACe has issued 113 authorisations to 52 non-governmental entities.
About 450 space startups are registered, against a handful in 2020.
India's space economy is about $8.4 billion, under 2 per cent of the world's, against a target of $44 billion by 2033.
Almost 80 per cent of ISRO's budget already goes to industry.

How far technology transfer has gone

SSLV

Designed with industry in mind, assembled in about 3 days
Transferred to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in 2025 for ₹511 crore

PSLV

Assembled in about 70 days
A HAL and Larsen & Toubro consortium is building five
Fresh call for its technology in 2026

LVM3

A 2024 attempt to commercialise was never awarded
New call in 2026

From The Indian Express, 6 and 14 September 2026. The rockets are the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3).

IN-SPACe: Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, the single window nodal agency under the Department of Space, set up in 2020 to authorise and promote private space activity.

NSIL: NewSpace India Limited, a public sector undertaking under the Department of Space and ISRO's commercial arm.

Non-governmental entities: The policy's term for private companies, startups and academia allowed to take part in space activities end to end.

Technology transfer: Handing a mature design and its manufacturing expertise to industry, with the developer supporting the company for a fixed period.

Low earth orbit: The band roughly 160 to 2,000 km above the Earth, where most communication and imaging satellites fly.

Experience curve: The tendency for the cost of each unit to fall as the number made, here launches flown, rises.

Earth observation constellation: A group of imaging satellites flown and operated together, so that a place on the ground is photographed far more often than a single satellite could manage.

hyperspectral: Imaging in hundreds of narrow wavelength bands rather than a few broad ones, which lets a satellite tell materials apart instead of only seeing shapes.

full-flow staged combustion: A rocket engine cycle in which the fuel and the oxidiser each burn partly in their own pre-burner to drive their own turbopump, and both exhaust streams then feed the main chamber, so all the propellant contributes to thrust.

What has happened

6 Sep 2026
ISRO's employee associations asked whether it would stop building launch vehicles and routine satellites, and ISRO answered that the shift is ecosystem expansion, not privatisation.
- IN-SPACe has invited private operators to run the small satellite launch complex at Kulasekarapattinam, Tamil Nadu, raising questions of safety, liability and accountability to Parliament.
- The staff cite vacant posts, scientists leaving and revenue given up on commercial launches.
The Indian Express, 6 Sep 2026: Letter sent after GSLV launch: ISRO staff question trajectory of space privatisation, want chief to clarify (opens in a new tab) · The Indian Express, 7 Sep 2026: Private sector push is 'ecosystem expansion, not privatisation': ISRO allays staff concerns (opens in a new tab)
16 Aug 2026
A peer reviewed study found that a kilogram to low earth orbit cost $13,302 on Indian rockets in 2025, the highest among major nations.
- The global average was $3,868 and the United States $3,225.
- The cause is rarity rather than inefficiency: India flew five launches that year, mostly on small rockets.
- Two PSLV failures had halted ISRO launches from January 2026, sending GSAT-N2 and several startup satellites to SpaceX.
- Skyroot's Vikram-1 reached orbit in July 2026.
The Hindu, 16 Aug 2026: Despite its reputation, India's per-unit space launch cost highest: study (opens in a new tab)
11 Aug 2026
A Bengaluru startup unveiled Everest, an 800 kN engine, making India the fourth country with full-flow staged combustion technology after Russia, the United States and China.
- It burns liquid oxygen and methane, a pair called methalox that leaves little soot.
- The cycle throttles precisely and suits reusable rockets.
The Hindu, 11 Aug 2026: What is the significance of India's first privately built FFSC rocket engine? (opens in a new tab)
5 Aug 2026
A private consortium was announced to build, own and operate twelve satellites by 2029, India's first fully commercial Earth observation constellation.
- The payloads are optical, multispectral, hyperspectral with 250 bands, and X-band radar.
PIB, 5 Aug 2026: Private space sector: first commercial Earth-observation constellation and reforms (opens in a new tab)