September 7: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has rejected claims that ongoing reforms in India’s space sector are aimed at privatising the agency or reducing its role, saying the changes are intended to expand the country’s space ecosystem and enable greater participation by industry, start-ups and academia.
In a clarification issued on September 6, ISRO said speculation that it was being privatised or that its importance was being diminished was “baseless and incorrect”. The agency said it would neither be privatised nor would its importance be diminished.
ISRO said the space-sector reforms initiated since 2020 and subsequently institutionalised through the Indian Space Policy 2023, along with liberalisation of the foreign direct investment policy, are aimed at creating a larger and globally competitive space ecosystem.
Under the emerging framework, Indian industry is being enabled to take up mature and scalable activities across the space value chain, while ISRO focuses its scientific and technical resources on advanced research, next-generation technologies and complex national missions.
The agency described the reforms as “ecosystem expansion and capability multiplication, not privatisation”, a position also highlighted by public broadcaster NewsOnAir in its report on the clarification.
ISRO said mature launch vehicles, routine satellites and other established systems could increasingly be produced by industry or public sector undertakings through appropriate competitive processes. This would allow the agency to strengthen its focus on frontier research and development, advanced technologies, human spaceflight, next-generation launch systems, deep-space and planetary missions and strategic national capabilities.
The approach is part of India’s Space Vision 2047, which includes establishing the Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035 and undertaking an Indian crewed mission to the Moon by 2040. India is also pursuing next-generation and reusable launch systems and sustained lunar and planetary exploration.
Under the institutional framework, the Department of Space will continue to provide overall policy direction, while ISRO will remain the core organisation for advanced research and development, technology development and national missions. IN-SPACe facilitates and authorises participation by non-government entities, while NewSpace India Limited handles commercialisation and industry-led utilisation of mature capabilities.
ISRO said ownership and control of critical national space infrastructure and strategic capabilities would continue to remain with the government. Private participation in operations and services would be enabled where appropriate and remain subject to national-security, safety and other regulatory requirements.
The agency said India now has more than 450 space start-ups, compared with only a handful in 2020, operating across areas including launch vehicles, satellites, propulsion, ground systems, Earth observation, communications and space applications.
India’s space economy is currently estimated at around $8.4 billion, while the country aims to increase its share of the global space market to $44 billion by 2033. ISRO said achieving this scale would require private capital, industrial capacity, entrepreneurship and access to global markets alongside government resources.
ISRO said it would remain at the centre of India’s space programme, leading advanced research, strategic capabilities, human spaceflight, next-generation launch technologies and lunar and planetary exploration, while a wider national space ecosystem provides the scale required to pursue India’s long-term space ambitions.
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