ISRO said it will neither be privatised nor have its importance diminished, while remaining central to advanced research, strategic missions and space exploration.
IN-SPACe chief Pawan Goenka said industry would increasingly manufacture and scale mature launch vehicles, satellites and other systems.
The government said critical national infrastructure and strategic capabilities will remain under government ownership and control, subject to security and regulatory requirements.
ISRO Clarifies It Will Not Be Privatised, Says Role To Remain Central
ISRO has said its role will remain central to India’s space programme even as private companies increasingly manufacture and scale mature space systems under reforms introduced since 2020
Summary
The role of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is by no means diminishing and it will remain the bedrock of India's space sector, Pawan Goenka, chairperson of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), said on Sunday.
IN-SPACe, an autonomous agency under the Department of Space, promotes, enables, authorises and supervises various space activities of non-governmental entities. This came after nine employee associations at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have written to the space agency's chairperson, V Narayanan, seeking an official clarification on the proposed transfer of its manufacturing and operational functions to private entities.
What Did ISRO Say About Its Future Role?
In a post on X, Goenka said, "The reforms since 2020 are about expanding India's overall space ecosystem. The idea is to let industry increasingly manufacture and scale mature launch vehicles, satellites and other systems." Meanwhile, the ISRO will focus on advanced research and development, scientific missions, strategic missions, new technologies and infrastructure that is too complex for the private sector to develop on its own, he added.
ISRO said in a statement that ISRO will neither be privatised nor will its importance be diminished. ISRO will continue to remain India’s principal institution for advanced space research and technology development, national and strategic missions, space science and exploration, and critical and frontier space capabilities.
Participation of private sector in space is not about reducing ISRO’s role. It is about enabling ISRO to focus even more strongly on the next generation of India’s space programme, while industry scales mature technologies and capabilities. What is changing is not the importance of ISRO, but the scale and structure of India’s space ecosystem, it said further.
What Will Private Companies Do?
Ownership and control of critical national space infrastructure and strategic capabilities will continue to remain with the Government. Private participation in operations and services will be enabled where appropriate and will remain subject to national-security, safety and other regulatory requirements. Strategic and nationally critical capabilities will continue to be governed by security, safety, quality and national-interest considerations.
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“ISRO remains at the centre of India’s space programme, leading national efforts in advanced research, strategic capabilities, human space-flight, next-generation launch technologies, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station and lunar and planetary exploration, while a wider Indian ecosystem provides the scale needed to realise India’s Space Vision 2047,” the statement read.
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