For decades, India’s presence in space was defined by a single, formidable institution. The Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) which designed, built and flew the country’s rockets, satellites and deep space missions, earning global respect for reliability and frugal engineering.

Yet in the past few years, a quieter but potentially transformative shift has been under way. A new generation of private companies is attempting something once unthinkable in India, building and launching their own rockets for commercial customers.

This change has not happened by accident. It is the result of policy reform, global market pressures and a cohort of engineers who grew up inspired by ISRO’s successes but eager to operate beyond the confines of a state monopoly. Together, they are giving India its first taste of a NewSpace era.

The turning point came in 2020, when the Indian government announced wide ranging reforms to open the space sector to private enterprise. New bodies were created to regulate and promote commercial activity, most notably the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, known as IN-SPACe. State owned assets, including launch facilities and testing infrastructure, were made accessible to startups. The message was clear, space was no longer the exclusive preserve of the government.

According to a report by Carnegie India, at the heart of this shift lies a global opportunity. The rapid growth of small satellites, driven by Earth observation, communications and research, has created demand for dedicated, low cost launch services. These satellites are often too small to justify rides on large rockets, yet too valuable to risk indefinite delays.

Companies around the world are racing to fill this niche, and Indian entrepreneurs believe they can compete on price, responsiveness and engineering talent. Two firms have emerged as flag bearers of India’s private launch ambitions. Skyroot Aerospace, based in Hyderabad, and Agnikul Cosmos, headquartered in Chennai, are both developing small satellite launch vehicles designed to carry a few hundred kilograms to low Earth orbit.

Their approaches differ, but their goals are strikingly similar, frequent launches, rapid turnaround and commercial customers from around the world. Skyroot made history in November 2022 with the suborbital launch of Vikram-S, the first privately built rocket to fly from Indian soil. Named after Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of India’s space programme, the mission was largely symbolic, carrying no satellites into orbit.

Yet it demonstrated that a private company could design, integrate and launch a rocket using ISRO’s facilities, marking a psychological breakthrough for the sector. Since then, Skyroot has focused on its orbital vehicle, Vikram-1, which it hopes will offer a dedicated launch option for small satellites. The company has emphasised rapid manufacturing and has drawn heavily on engineers with experience inside ISRO.

Its pitch is straightforward, Indian launch costs combined with global service standards. Agnikul Cosmos has taken a slightly different path. In May 2024, it successfully conducted a suborbital flight of its Agnibaan SOrTeD rocket from a newly built private launch pedestal at Sriharikota, India’s main spaceport.

The mission tested Agnikul’s semi cryogenic engine, Agnilet, which uses liquid oxygen and kerosene and is fully 3D printed. The company argues that such technologies will reduce production time and allow faster iteration. Perhaps most striking is the degree of cooperation between these startups and the state. Rather than competing with ISRO in a traditional sense, private firms are deeply intertwined with the national programme.

They rely on ISRO for range safety, tracking and access to launch sites, while ISRO increasingly positions itself as a facilitator and mentor rather than sole operator. Officials have repeatedly described the relationship as complementary, with the agency focusing on heavy lift missions and exploration, while private players handle commercial small satellite launches.

This model reflects a broader rethinking of India’s space economy. Government policymakers see private launch vehicles as a way to capture a share of the global market, which is currently dominated by American, European and Chinese firms. They also view the sector as a driver of high skilled employment and advanced manufacturing, with spillover benefits for other industries.

Challenges remain significant. Developing a reliable orbital rocket is notoriously difficult, and even established players worldwide have suffered costly failures. Indian startups operate with far less capital than some of their international rivals, and delays are common. Regulatory clarity, while improved, continues to evolve, and insurance and liability frameworks are still being tested. There is also the question of scale. India’s domestic demand for small satellite launches is limited, meaning companies must attract foreign customers to survive.

That, in turn, requires not just low prices but consistent reliability, something that can only be proven over time. Yet optimism persists. India’s reputation for engineering talent, combined with relatively low costs and growing political support, gives its private launch sector a credible foundation. The sight of privately built rockets rising from Sriharikota, once the exclusive domain of ISRO, has already altered perceptions at home and abroad.

In the coming years, success will be measured less by symbolic firsts and more by cadence, how often Indian private rockets fly, how reliably they perform and how many customers they serve. If even one of these companies manages to establish a steady launch rhythm, it could mark a profound shift in how India participates in the global space economy.

For a country that once prided itself on doing more with less in space, the NewSpace era offers a chance to do something different, to turn ingenuity into industry, and launches into a lasting commercial presence.