BT BIG STORY: India’s Private Space Race – Riding on ISRO’s Legacy

Until the dawn of 2020, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was the sole name people associated with rockets, satellites and daring interplanetary missions. The agency’s achievements – from the historic Chandrayaan‑1 moon‑orbiting probe to the record‑setting Mangalyaan Mars mission – were taught in schools and cheered on national TV. But a quiet policy shift and a massive network of suppliers, nurtured over sixty years, have suddenly given birth to a whole new class of players: private space startups.

On July 18, 2026, the tension was palpable at Skyroot Aerospace’s Infinity Campus in Hyderabad. Engineers hunched over consoles, phones buzzed incessantly, and a chorus of hushed voices filled the control room. The countdown for Vikram‑1, India’s first privately‑developed orbital‑class rocket, had been cruising toward an 11:30 am liftoff at Sriharikota’s First Launch Pad when, out of the blue, a generic hold message cracked the silence: “There is a hold observed at T‑minus five minutes. All stations are requested to be on standby mode.”

For a moment, the atmosphere felt like a live‑action drama. Screens flickered, staff shuffled, and the audience – hundreds of children on the ground, thousands more glued to live streams – sensed the collective breath being held. In Chennai, Srinath Ravichandran, co‑founder and CEO of Agnikul Cosmos, felt a familiar knot in his stomach. He’d been through the same nail‑biting experience when his own launch was aborted at T‑129 seconds a few years earlier. “When you see a hold, you remember every heartbeat of your own countdown,” he later told a reporter.

The pause turned out to be nothing more than a software glitch in the automatic launch sequence. Engineers corrected the code, rebooted the countdown at T‑20 seconds, and the clock ticked forward again. By 12:05 pm, Vikram‑1 roared skyward, shedding its first stage and igniting the second at about 22 km down‑range. The crowd at Sriharikota erupted in applause, while the control room stayed sober – the job was far from over.

When the vehicle finally achieved low‑Earth orbit, it became the first privately‑built Indian launch vehicle to fly from Indian soil. That milestone placed India alongside the United States, China and – newly – Germany (which saw Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket lofted from Norway in September). The achievement was not just a technical win; it sent a clear signal to the global space ecosystem that Indian private firms are ready to play on the big stage.

Skyroot’s co‑founder and CEO, Pawan Kumar Chandana, could hardly contain his excitement during a post‑launch interview. “It still feels like a dream,” he said, eyes gleaming. “The next challenge is to reliably reach orbit, and then turn that reliability into a sustainable commercial business.”

Across the country, other founders were watching with equal parts pride and anxiety. Yashas Karanam, co‑founder and COO of Bellatrix Aerospace, was glued to a live feed at his Bengaluru office. “When a home‑grown launch vehicle succeeds on its first try, it tells the world that India means serious business,” he remarked, noting that many nations have stumbled on early attempts.

What makes these private successes possible today is a combination of three factors that ISRO unintentionally set in motion: an enormous manufacturing ecosystem, a legacy of frugal engineering, and recent policy reforms that opened the doors to private participation.

Since its formation in 1969, ISRO – evolving from the Indian National Committee for Space Research set up by Jawaharlal Nehru – has always emphasized cost‑effective, reliable solutions. Over six decades, the agency cultivated a dense supply chain of roughly 500 small‑ and large‑scale firms spanning Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and the launch hub at Sriharikota. ISRO itself estimates that about 80‑85 % of the components that go into a launch vehicle – from propulsion parts to avionics – are sourced locally.

Manish Gupta, general partner at growX Ventures and early backer of Bellatrix, sums it up succinctly: “These companies are essentially building to ISRO’s print. They inherit designs, standards, even some tooling, and then add their own innovations on top.” That “built‑to‑print” approach reduces R&D costs and speeds up time‑to‑market, but it also creates a dependency on the very supply chain that once served a single, government‑run entity.

Policy-wise, the Indian government introduced the Space Activities (Launch Vehicles) Act in 2022, laying out a clear regulatory framework for private players, and announced incentives for indigenous manufacturing. Combined with a 2024 revision that eased foreign investment limits, the environment now feels far more welcoming for venture capital and start‑up founders alike.

Nevertheless, challenges remain. While the supplier base is vast, many firms still lack the capacity for high‑precision, mission‑critical parts. Gaps in propulsion technology, high‑temperature materials and reliable avionics persist. Closing these gaps will decide whether Indian startups can not only launch domestically but also compete for international contracts.

Look at Agnikul’s recent progress: after a series of sub‑orbital test flights, the company is gearing up for its first orbital launch, aiming to offer dedicated small‑sat rideshare services. Bellatrix, meanwhile, is refining its electric‑propulsion thrusters, hoping to provide in‑space maneuvering capabilities that could attract global satellite operators. And Skyroot, fresh from the Vikram‑1 success, is already working on a larger vehicle, Vikram‑S, designed to carry heavier payloads to geostationary transfer orbit.

All these efforts point to a broader vision: turning India into a launch‑service hub that can serve the burgeoning small‑sat market while eventually tackling larger, more complex missions. The story is still unfolding, and each successful launch adds a new chapter to a narrative that began with a modest sounding rocket in the 1970s and now races toward the stars.

In the end, the moment the Vikram‑1 ignited its engine, something intangible shifted. It wasn’t just a private rocket breaking the sound barrier; it was a testament to decades of ISRO’s quiet craftsmanship, the perseverance of a new generation of engineers, and the belief that India can one day stand shoulder‑to‑shoulder with the world’s space superpowers.