Modi: Booming space economy major opportunity for India’s youth

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated Skyroot’s Infinity Campus in Hyderabad, Telangana, via video-conferencing. He also unveiled the company’s first orbital rocket, Vikram-I, which is capable of launching satellites into orbit.

Skyroot, a private space company founded by IIT alumni and former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists Pawan Chandana and Bharath Daka, became the first Indian private firm to launch a rocket into space when it flew the sub-orbital Vikram-S in November 2022.

Modi said India’s space ecosystem was undergoing a major leap as the private sector gained momentum. “ISRO has for decades given new wings to India’s space journey, and its credibility, capacity and value have established India’s distinct identity in the sector,” he said.

The Prime Minister noted that the government had made efforts to connect startups and industry with innovation, citing the creation of IN-SPACe to provide ISRO’s facilities and technology to emerging companies. “In the past six to seven years, India has transformed its space sector into an open, cooperative and innovation-driven ecosystem,” he added.

Modi highlighted that more than 300 space startups were now shaping India’s space future. With the global space economy set to grow manifold, he said this presented a major opportunity for India’s youth.

India, he emphasised, possessed space capabilities matched by only a few nations, backed by expert engineers, a strong manufacturing ecosystem, world-class launch sites and a culture of innovation. He said India’s cost-effective and reliable space solutions were attracting global interest.

Companies worldwide, he remarked, were looking to manufacture satellites in India, use Indian launch services and pursue technology partnerships.

Stressing that the future would be defined by the research being conducted today, Modi said the government was committed to providing young people with opportunities in scientific exploration. He noted that more than 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs had already been set up to foster innovation among students, and work was underway to establish 50,000 more labs in the coming days.