Four days after the Mangalyaan spacecraft reached Mars on September 24, 2014, The New York Times ran an editorial cartoon illustrating a turbaned farmer standing at the door with a cow. He held a newspaper announcing India’s Mars mission. On the other side sat two men in suits beneath a sign reading “Elite Space Club”. The cartoon was widely criticised, and the newspaper eventually apologised, but I wonder whether the outrage was because the cartoon was derogatory or because it was partially true? Perhaps both? Anyway, outrage doesn’t convert skeptics into believers. Progress does.
In July this year, India became the third nation, after the US and China, whose private sector successfully launched a rocket into orbit. When Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 reached orbit on its first attempt, it proved that India’s long tradition of frugal engineering largely enabled by the state had begun to evolve into a thriving commercial space ecosystem.
For most of its history, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was the architect, designer, launcher, and operator of the country’s space ambitions. That changed around 2020, when the government opened the sector to private players and created IN-SPACe as a single-window authoriser. The Indian Space Policy of 2023 and expanded room for foreign investment in 2024 accelerated the shift, enabling hundreds of startups to pursue bolder missions.
Crucially, ISRO didn’t step aside; it stepped into a new role as enabler and catalyst. Skyroot’s first-stage solid motor was cast and tested at ISRO’s Sriharikota facilities, and its upper-stage liquid engine at a state test facility. This was a private rocket flown with serious mentorship and operational support from the state, which is exactly what the reforms were designed to produce. The results are showing up in the numbers: 285 space startups have now raised $871 million. Funding is still concentrated among leaders like Skyroot, Pixxel, and AgniKul, but the emergence of late-stage growth rounds signals an ecosystem maturing from early-stage R&D toward commercial-scale operation. India’s space sector now counts 285 startups that have raised $871 million in capital. While funding remains concentrated, with top players like Skyroot, Pixxel, and AgniKul, leading the charge, the emergence of late-stage growth rounds signals an ecosystem transitioning from early-stage R&D to commercial-scale operation.
Harvard Business School professor Tarun Khanna calls India’s space sector a masterclass in frugal, entrepreneurial problem-solving. With national R&D spending under one per cent of GDP, ISRO and its private partners have turned severe constraints into a spur for creative, iterative experimentation. But Khanna argues that long-term leadership will hinge on a harder challenge, navigating a strategic trilemma between deep-space scientific missions, domestic socio-economic needs, and global commercialisation.
So far, the signs look encouraging. Perhaps The New York Times will want to run a new cartoon, one about the Indian way of democratising space. India is among the fastest growing free market economies in the world, but much of the foundational work in its space sector happened when the country’s GDP was less than a quarter of what it is today. Those consistent efforts are now yielding results, and that is good news for much of the developing world. Space exploration has long been heralded as an effort for all of humanity, and that can’t manifest if it is dominated by a handful of countries and companies. Unlocking the $1.8 trillion economic potential identified by the World Economic Forum will take far more product, policy, and process innovation. By opening its doors to private innovation, transforming the role of its national space agency, and staying consistent toward long-term goals, India has carved out a model others can follow. It has democratised technology and, more importantly, ambition, giving moonshots a fighting chance the world over.