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08-01-2025
Bureau Report + Agencies
BENGALURU: Funding in India’s space sector, a key part of the country’s ambitions to become a global superpower, plummeted by 55% in 2024 to $59.1 million from $130.2 million the previous year, according to data from market intelligence platform Tracxn.
The drop, which came amid a global 20% decline in space sector investment, marks the first fall in at least five years. Globally, space companies raised about $28 billion over the last five years, while their Indian counterparts secured approximately $354 million in the same period, Tracxn data showed.
India’s space industry has gained global attention with the Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing and the Aditya-L1 solar probe launch. Its private space sector growth is increasingly seen as crucial for achieving the long-term goal a $44 billion private space economy.
The government has sought to stimulate the sector by approving a 10 billion rupee ($119 million) fund in October 2024 to support space startups and setting plans to expand India’s share of the global commercial space market by 2033.
Industry participants said they expected to see a pickup in funding in 2025.
“The next 12 months will be crucial in shaping the future of India’s space tech startups,” said Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner at Special Invest, which backs companies such as Agnikul Cosmos, GalaxEye, and Inspect.
In 2023, India’s space sector hit a funding peak of $130.2 million, a 32.9% rise from 2022, driven by initiatives supporting satellite technology, launch vehicles, and space exploration.
“The decline aligns with the natural investment cycles of the industry,” said Pawan Chandana, founder of Skyroot Aerospace. “As leading companies approach critical milestones in 2025, investment activity is likely to pick up.”
Over the five years from 2020 to 2024, Indian space startups raised $353.5 million across 72 funding rounds. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has also projected a 20%-30% increase in its budget to support deep space exploration and heavy-lift rockets.
In August, India’s space agency expects a 20%-30% increase in its budget in the coming years, its head said in a Reuters NEXT Newsmaker interview on Tuesday, describing the agency’s rocket launch prices as on a par with SpaceX’s, though without giving details.
In a wide-ranging interview, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath discussed ongoing plans for a heavy-lift booster rocket capable of carrying large payloads using a combination of private and public money. He also talked up other goals, including crewed spaceflight.
The government has allotted nearly 130 billion rupees ($1.55 billion) to India’s space department this year. Asked how much he expected funding to increase, Somanath said “something like an additional 20-30%”, though “over a long period of time”.
NASA’s approved budget for the current fiscal year stands at $25 billion after cuts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on ISRO to make India a profitable space superpower, and the agency has responded by looking to work with the private sector.
The $630 billion global commercial space market is expected to be worth $1.8 trillion by 2035, according to McKinsey & Co, opens new tab.
The Indian government estimates its share of the market is currently just $8 billion, but it is aiming to increase that to $44 billion over the next decade, commission its own space station by 2035, and put an Indian on the moon by 2040.
