Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
23-06-2025
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI/ BENGALURU: State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, opens new tab has won a bid to commercially make India’s small satellite launch rockets, in the government’s biggest move yet to open its fast-growing space industry to private players.
Fighter jet maker HAL won with a bid of 5.11 billion rupees ($59 million), space regulator the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre said on Friday.
Media reported in February that three consortiums, Alpha Design Technologies, a unit of Adani Defence Systems and Technologies, state-backed Bharat Dynamics, opens new tab and HAL were the finalists to acquire India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) technology.
“One of the big things we have been wanting to do is to make India the global hub for small satellite launches,” Pawan Goenka, chairman of IN-SPACe told reporters.
Shares of HAL rose as much as 1.6% to hit a session high of 4,980 rupees after the announcement.
Handing SSLV’s technology to HAL marks a significant shift for India’s space industry which has already granted satellite communication service licenses to global and domestic firms such as France’s Eutelsat and Reliance Jio’s satellite venture.
The rocket is capable of carrying 500kg payloads to low-Earth orbit.
HAL will have the capability to build, own, and commercialize SSLV launches, Goenka added.
HAL intends to offer a “very competitive” price on launches both for India and international clients, said Barenya Senapati, Director (Finance) at Hindustan Aeronautics.
About 20 companies had initially expressed interest in bidding for the SSLV, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy drive to open up India’s space industry.
The global low-Earth orbit launch vehicle market was valued at $13.9 billion in 2023 and is estimated to grow to about $44 billion by 2032, according to Global Market Insights.
India, which accounts for only 2% of the global space economy, is eyeing a fivefold expansion to $44 billion by the end of the decade.
Hindustan Aeronautics and Larsen & Toubro, opens new tab, an industrial conglomerate, have a government contract to manufacture and deliver larger rockets to Indian Space Research Organization.
The first of those are due for launch between October and December, said Radhakrishnan Durairaj, chairman and managing director of New Space India Limited, the commercial arm of ISRO.
Earlier, Indian conglomerate Adani Group is a finalist, alongside two government-linked groups, to take over private production of India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The SSLV, developed by the Indian Space Research Organization, is a low-cost vehicle capable of deploying satellites of up to 500 kg (1,100 pounds) into low-Earth orbit, or LEO, the most sought after segment of the satellite launch market.
After its first successful launch in 2023, the government moved to transfer the vehicle’s production and technology to private industry as part of a broader push to expand India’s commercial space sector.
That move has been the highest-profile piece of India’s privatization efforts, which the government hopes will help the country claim a greater share of the booming global satellite launch market, dominated by private players such as SpaceX.
