The Indian space economy is currently valued at approximately $8.4 billion, representing just 2% of the global space market. The government has set its sights on scaling the space economy to $44 billion by 2033, with $11 billion expected from exports, raising India’s share to about 7-8% worldwide.
At the recent International Conference on Space 2025 event in Bengaluru, industry leaders proposed an even bolder target of capturing 10% of the global market share. India’s space journey, however, has historically been cautious.
Institutional conservatism, shaped by past controversies, has often limited risk-taking. Yet, startups are pushing the boundaries with bold projects. Industry leaders agree that India’s space future will hinge on two critical factors: how much risk private players are willing to take and how swiftly regulation can adapt.
Achieving the 10% share will require private players to take on more ambitious projects, supported by a regulatory framework that keeps pace with innovation.
ISRO’s Legacy
The story of India’s space sector is tied to both success and setbacks. Lt Gen Anil Kumar Bhatt (retd), director general of the Indian Space Association (ISpA), recalled in a conversation with AIM, “In the whole story of ISRO or space, there was an organisation called Devas Multimedia. It had one so-called wrong deal (the Antrix-Devas deal 2005), which has been bashed up as a supreme corruption.”
Antrix Corporation was ISRO’s commercial arm, while Devas Multimedia was a startup founded by former ISRO officials and venture capitalists. Bhatt explained that episodes like these have made organisations like ISRO or NSIL inherently cautious. Their instinct is to follow the rules and not take many risks.
This is precisely where the Indian space startups come into the picture.
While a cautious approach has served ISRO in avoiding failures, it has also limited opportunities for experimentation. Startups, on the other hand, are far more willing to embrace risks, Bhatt noted.
Startups Breaking New Ground
Examples abound of young firms moving faster than state institutions. “The ISRO chairman was present five times when Agnikul was being launched. He would not have gone for his project five times,” Bhatt pointed out.
Companies like Agnikul Cosmos and Skyroot Aerospace are testing indigenous launch vehicles. NSIL announced that the first fully industry-built polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV), called PSLV N1, is expected to launch later this year. These milestones signal that risk is gradually shifting from state agencies to private industry.
Yet, Bhatt acknowledged that not every venture will succeed. “Some will not succeed because it is a difficult technology. But we have to be ready,” he added.
Pawan Kumar Chandana, co-founder and CEO of Skyroot Aerospace, told AIM that India’s market share in the global space economy has been limited so far, as the company’s focus has primarily been on meeting strategic goals, such as addressing needs in security, weather forecasting, maritime navigation and similar applications.
Having established these capabilities, he urged that it is now time to scale up India’s presence in the commercial space sector. “We need launch vehicles developed with a sharp focus on addressing the pain points of global satellite operators and applications that provide solutions to international businesses,” he said.
He emphasised that private enterprises are best suited to take on this challenge.
“We have seen this model succeed in the US, the world’s largest space market. The space industry complex in the US was initially building and supplying exclusively to NASA.”
However, once NASA shifted from prescriptive contracts that dictated exactly how products should be built to simply defining the outcomes they needed, the US witnessed rapid progress in innovation and capabilities, he added.
“The result speaks for itself.”
Meanwhile, in an exclusive interaction, Shravan Bhati, founder and CEO of SatLeo Labs, emphasised the need to first understand the contrasting mindsets at play. On one side is a startup ecosystem, and on the other is the mindset of a government organisation like ISRO.
“[For instance], NASA does not approve any rocket if they are not 100% sure about it. They will not launch even with a 99% certainty. For SpaceX, on the other hand, the criteria is between 80-85%,” he said.
Policy in Transition
Multiple speakers at the space conference and panel stressed the need for regulation to adapt to the speed of private innovation. As Nikhil Arora, deputy director at IN-SPACe, put it, “Startups are very agile. Industry is very agile, and they are catching up with this technology in this sector very fast. Now the regulation and policy also have to catch up with that.”
The Indian Space Policy 2023, along with the creation of IN-SPACe as a regulator, has been seen as a step forward by many industry experts. However, gaps remain in areas like data sovereignty, space situational awareness and in-orbit services.
Bhatt added that India still lacks an iconic entrepreneurial leader to push the sector forward. “When I ask somebody, what is my job, what do I do? I say I am looking for Elon Musk. For India, we require one.”
Musk has had a significant impact on how the world thinks of space. By pushing for reusable rockets, the cost of launches plunged and getting into orbit became even easier. This shift also opened the way for countries, governments and academia to collaborate on space exploration. The SpaceX founder even pushed for commercial satellite internet (Starlink) to connect remote areas of the world.
According to the US Federal Aviation Administration’s aerospace forecast for the fiscal years 2025-2045, the country conducted 142 launches by six operators in 2024, with SpaceX accounting for 83% with a total of 118 launches.
A combination of progressive policies, burgeoning talent and strategic technological innovations is fueling India’s ambitious plan to expand its share of the global space economy.
In an exclusive conversation with AIM, Vishesh Vatsal, co-founder and CTO at SkyServe, explained that the recent space and remote sensing policies have been critical in reducing uncertainty and creating a conducive ecosystem.
“We have a surface of engineering talent, and…the news of [commercialisation of space] has excited a lot of people into machine learning.” Specific segments are projected to grow exponentially, with demonstration demand expected to increase tenfold. “Let’s say demonstration demand, it will go 10x. In theory, that means we don’t have enough people to process the data.”
The Balancing Act
India now needs to strike a balance between maintaining tight regulations for security and credibility, while enabling risk-taking by startups. The challenge is not just technical but also cultural.
As Bhatt put it, “It’s about how much you can spread the idea. And how much you can scale it and commercialise it.”The government is signalling support through funding schemes, public-private partnerships and global collaborations. However, in the end, success may come down to whether India can embrace risk while building trust.
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