Commercialisation, Not Merely Privatisation: India’s Space Reform Strategy

India’s space reforms expand commercialisation and not merely privatisation, preserving ISRO’s core mandate and state control over strategic R&D

Since 2020, the Indian government has enacted space reforms, supplemented by the geospatial policy, the space policy, the streamlining of non-governmental financing mechanisms, and a wide range of support and encouragement for space-domain innovation. The sentiment within the innovation ecosystem has remained optimistic, with little to no awareness of the tribulations the reforms overcame. 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was, for an extended period, unable to delegate its outputs and thus became the comprehensive assembler of launch vehicles, satellites, and spacecraft. This occurred at a time when the majority of leading spacefaring nations, such as China and the United States (US), had transitioned to full-scale commercialisation. The reforms introduced through the 2023 National Space Policy explicitly appointed ISRO to focus “...research and development of new space technologies and applications, and for expanding the human understanding of outer space.” Few within the ecosystem may have been aware of the increasing political pressures exerted on ISRO and the Department of Space to desist from implementing reforms other than the one attempted, the disruptive rechartering of ISRO.

Read the original and longer version of this Expert Speak on the Observer Research Foundation website through this weblink - https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/commercialisation-not-merely-privatisation-india-s-space-reform-strategy