India's spacefarers get takeoff tips from the government

New Delhi: The Centre has identified more than 20 countries where Indian space startups can provide their services, according to two senior officials with direct knowledge of the matter. The development comes in the backdrop of slowing revenues for India’s nascent space startups.

The plan is to have the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) continue to engage with larger economies, and pass on opportunities from other countries to the private sector, a third person with knowledge of the matter, a senior industry consultant, said. All three people spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The 20-plus countries were identified through a worldwide survey conducted by government-backed nodal space regulator Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (In-Space) in partnership with the ministry of external affairs (MEA), the two officials cited above said, without naming any of the countries identified.

The first official cited above said that the survey sought “to find nations that can become big markets for private space startups in the country", even while pointing out that established space markets such as the US are unlikely to come to India with sizeable revenue opportunities.

The second official said that the department of space (DoS) will offer guidance to private space startups on their international expansion plans based on the survey’s findings.

“The survey took into account requests from varied geographies for space solutions such as satellite imagery for planning and development; nations from the MENA region, South America, eastern Europe and south-east Asia are forefront opportunities—thus making for being the most obvious expansion market for India," the second person added.

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Both officials confirmed that these are not mainstream countries with huge budgets for space projects, and that they approached India for strategic space applications such as agriculture, administrative planning, wildlife and forestry, among others.

The industry consultant cited above said that the survey has also detailed the procedure through which DoS can pass on these business opportunities to the startups.

Even as the startups are being encouraged and guided towards business opportunities in these countries, state-run Isro will continue to engage with leading space economies such as the US, Japan, France and others, this consultant said.

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Hailing the strategy, Chaitanya Giri, space fellow at global policy think-tank Observer Research Foundation’s Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology, said that India, through Isro, has been receiving queries from several countries for space services.

“Given that Isro would only have limited capacity to be present in so many markets, it’s ideal that such opportunities are transferred to the private sector. Overall, this can help boost the industry significantly in the long run," Giri said.

Pawan Goenka, chairman of In-Space, said that the nodal space body is “engaged with multiple countries to promote private Indian space startups".

Queries sent to MEA and DoS did not receive responses until press time.

Why the government is helping space startups

The development comes at a time when the Centre has taken stock of India’s private space startups’ revenue generation plight.

India’s space startups became commercially viable after the sector was liberalized in 2020. While experts maintain that space as an industry is particularly challenging due to engineering complexities, most space startups in India have not yet generated meaningful revenue, and are largely at the stage of technology demonstrations.

To be sure, the key challenge in generating meaningful revenue for private space firms lies in proving reliability in areas such as satellite manufacturing and operations, imaging and more.

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Nations around the world typically prefer relying on established companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin in the US, and Arianespace in France, among others. With India’s private space industry formally being less than five years old, attracting revenue for young space firms has been a challenge.

To help the Indian private sector attract more business opportunities, the DoS has offered a “soft" suggestion to private space startups to form multiple consortia and team-up to get a better shot at generating revenue, instead of rivalling each other, Mint had reported on 5 September.

Earlier, on 23 June, Mint reported that Isro and DoS are also looking to increase business opportunities for the private sector within India itself, including tendering of various state and Centre-affiliated ministry requirements to the private sector.

Why tiny Indian space startups are going global

Ever since being liberalized four years ago, India’s private space economy has expanded to now account for over 300 startups, as per union minister of state (MoS) for space, Jitendra Singh.

In his speech at India’s maiden National Space Day on 23 August, Singh further said that the sector is currently worth $8 billion—with an eye on becoming a $44 billion sector by 2033.

Various watchers of the industry have, however, questioned this valuation. In June this year, Mint reported that the sector was struggling to see demand, pushing even the forefront space startups to either expand to global markets, or slow down the push for business.

For instance, Bengaluru-headquartered space startup Digantara is working on efforts to move to the US in a bid to address not just the North American market, but the entire region. Pixxel, India’s second most-funded and the only Google-backed space startup, is already drawing commercial revenue from a global clientele across Europe and North America.

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Others have slowed down business plans. Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace, India’s most-funded space startup, is working on one launch only for 2024—instead of the projected three. Fellow launch provider Agnikul Cosmos is also yet to confirm its next rocket launch date, with regularized commercial missions still distant.

Both the officials cited above said that the survey by In-Space and MEA is looking to address all of these pain points for India’s fledgling space economy, which by practical measures accounts for less than 2% of the global private space industry.

“There’s also the question of India being the voice of the Global South—this move can give India considerable geopolitical soft power, which will be key in future," the first official cited above said.