India has an ambitious programme in technology development, space applications and science. The country launches its own satellites from the Satish Dhavan Space Centre in Sriharikota, and operates a significant fleet of earth observation and satellite communications satellites for civil applications such as emergency management, tele-education and tele-health. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), under the Department of Space, is responsible for R&D, operations as well as manufacturing, and has laboratories and facilities spread across the country. ISRO employed some 16 000 persons in 2017/18 (ISRO, 2018[1])
In 2017, the Department of Space allocated an estimated INR 91.6 billion (USD 1.4 billion) to space activities. The biggest programmes include space technology and space applications, accounting for 65% and 17% of the budget, respectively. Between 2008 and 2017, the budget grew notably by some 30% in real terms.
In the last years, India has successfully deployed the space segment of its regional GNSS system NavIC as well as the satellite-based augmentation system GAGAN. In 2017, the domestically developed GSLV-MkIII launcher, India’s most powerful launcher to date, had a successful orbital demonstration flight, launching a communications satellite to the geosynchronous orbit. The launcher will be instrumental in India’s human spaceflight programme. After many years of technology development, the Indian government approved in 2018 INR 100 billion (USD 1.5 billion) for India’s first manned space mission. The project foresees two unmanned flights of the Gaganyaan spacecraft in 2020 and 2021, followed by a manned flight with a three-member crew to the low-earth orbit in 2022.
Several science missions are also coming up. This includes a second Mars orbiter, MOM-2, following India’s first successful interplanetary mission to Mars in 2013, and a second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, comprising an orbiter, lander and rover. A mission to Venus is also planned.
Recent policy initiatives have focussed on space sector commercialisation and increasing the capabilities of the domestic space industry. ISRO is currently collaborating with private consortia for the manufacturing of satellites and the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. In response to the growing national and international demand for Indian space products and services, as well as increasing start-up activity, a new legal framework, the “Space Activities Bill”, is under elaboration (ISRO, 2017[2]).
India has capabilities in several industry segments, including manufacturing, launch, satellite operations and downstream activities. Most of these activities are government-led, with ISRO assembling subsystems provided by private companies.
Antrix, the commercial branch of ISRO, provides launch services for polar-orbiting LEO satellites and the geostationary satellite market. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is an affordable choice for nanosatellites. In 2017, it launched 130 foreign satellites, more than half of all international customer satellites launched during the 1999-2018 period. In the downstream sector, the company leases transponders on Indian INSAT and GSAT satellites and on foreign satellites to private service providers, and it commercialises satellite data products (Antrix Corporation, 2017[3]). In the 2016-17 fiscal year, transponder leasing accounted for 80% of Antrix’s INR 18.7 billion (USD 280 million) operational revenues (Antrix Corporation, 2017[3]).
India’s share in scientific publicatons in space literature (see guide to the profiles) is comparable to that of the Russian Federation and Switzerland and has remained stable since 2000. India’s share in space-related patent applications has significantly increased between 2002-05 and 2012-15. The penetration of satellite TV has significantly increased in the last 10 years. The subscription rate for satellite broadband is low, but growing. In the 2000-16 period, India was the recipient of several space-related official development assistance projects, most notably in the context of transport, biodiversity and disaster risk management. The United States and France were the main donor countries over the period.
