The Center identifies more than 20 countries with opportunities for space startups

New Delhi: The Centre has identified over 20 countries where Indian space startups can offer their services, according to two senior officials with direct knowledge of the matter. The development comes against a backdrop of slowing revenues of Indian space startups.

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

The 20-plus countries were identified through a global survey conducted by the government-backed nodal space regulator, India’s National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (In-Space), in association with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the two officials cited above said, without naming any of the identified countries.

The first official cited above said the survey was aimed at “finding nations that can become large markets for private space startups in the country,” though he noted that established space markets like the US are unlikely to come to India with significant revenue opportunities.

The second official said the Department of Space (DoS) will provide guidance to private space startups on their international expansion plans based on the survey results.

“The survey took into account requests from diverse geographies for space solutions such as satellite imagery for planning and development, with nations in the MENA region, South America, Eastern Europe and South East Asia being the top opportunities, making them the most obvious expansion market for India,” the second person added.

Both officials confirmed that these are not traditional 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 the survey has also detailed the procedure through which the DoS can pass on these business opportunities to startups.

While encouraging startups and guiding them towards business opportunities in these countries, state-run Isro will continue to collaborate with leading space economies like the US, Japan, France and others, the consultant said.

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

“Since Isro would only have a limited capacity to be present in so many markets, ideally such opportunities should be 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 the nodal space body is “engaged with multiple countries to promote new private Indian space ventures.”

Queries sent to the MEA and the DoS had not received a response by the time this edition went to press.

Why the government is helping space startups

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

Indian space startups became commercially viable after the sector was liberalised in 2020. While experts argue that space as an industry is particularly challenging due to engineering complexities, most space startups in India are yet to generate significant revenue and are largely at the technology demonstration stage.

Undoubtedly, the key challenge in generating significant revenue for private space companies lies in demonstrating reliability in areas such as satellite manufacturing and operations, imaging and more.

Countries around the world tend to prefer to rely on established companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin in the US and Arianespace in France, among others. As India’s private space industry is less than five years old, attracting revenue for young space companies 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 partner together to have a better chance of generating revenue, rather than competing with each other, Mint reported on September 5.

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

Why small Indian space ventures are going global

Since liberalisation four years ago, India’s private space economy has expanded and now has more than 300 startups, according to Union Minister of State (MoS) for Space Jitendra Singh.

Speaking on India’s first National Space Day on August 23, Singh added that the sector is currently worth $8 billion and is expected to be worth $44 billion by 2033.

However, several industry observers have questioned this assessment. In June this year, Mint reported that the sector was struggling to see demand, pushing even the most cutting-edge space startups to expand into global markets or slow business momentum.

For instance, Bengaluru-based space startup Digantara is working on moving into the US with an aim to address not just the North American market but the entire region. Pixxel, India’s second most-funded space startup and the only one backed by Google, is already raking in commercial revenue from a global clientele in Europe and North America.

Others have slowed down their business plans. Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace, India’s most funded space startup, is working on a single launch by 2024, instead of the three planned. Another launch provider, Agnikul Cosmos, has yet to confirm the date of its next rocket launch, and regularised commercial missions are still some way off.

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

“There is also the issue of India being the voice of the Global South – this move can give India considerable geopolitical soft power, which will be key going forward,” said the first official cited above.