India’s geography, not low-cost launches, is its biggest edge in the global space race, says startup CEO

India has long marketed itself as one of the world’s most affordable launch destinations. But as the country’s private space industry gathers momentum, competing on price alone will not be enough to challenge global leaders, according to the chief executive of Bengaluru-based spacetech startup The Guild.

Instead, India’s biggest competitive advantage lies in its geography, which allows it to offer efficient access to key orbital paths, alongside the potential to ramp up launch frequency, Manu Nair, co-founder and CEO of The Guild, said in an interview with Firstpost.

“People are looking for the balance between launch price and launch cadence, or launch frequency,” Nair said, adding that India’s commercial space industry should move beyond the “low-cost launch” narrative and focus on leveraging its natural geographical strengths.

India’s location offers a strategic advantage

Nair said India’s geographical position gives it an edge that several established launch markets cannot easily replicate.

Countries in Europe, for instance, are too far north to efficiently conduct many low Earth orbit (LEO) missions and often rely on overseas launch sites, increasing logistical complexity and costs, he said.

India’s location enables more efficient access to multiple orbital paths while avoiding many of these constraints, making it an attractive launch destination for commercial satellite operators, he said. Combined with the country’s lower operating costs, that geographical advantage could help Indian launch companies compete globally.

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The location advantage has historically helped India’s space programme as well. The Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, located close to the east coast and relatively near the equator, allows rockets to launch over the Bay of Bengal while conserving fuel during missions requiring equatorial or geostationary orbits.

However, India is now attempting to translate that institutional advantage into a commercial opportunity as private companies enter a market dominated by players such as SpaceX, Rocket Lab and European launch providers.

Competing on reliability, not just price

Nair cautioned Indian launch providers against entering a price war with established players such as SpaceX.

Although India’s lower engineering and manufacturing costs provide an inherent advantage, he said customers increasingly value reliable launch schedules and frequent access to orbit over marginal price differences.

“Just because we have the Indian costing and international pricing advantage doesn’t mean we have to utilise it,” he said, adding that SpaceX benefits from diversified revenue streams, including government contracts and its Starlink satellite business, making a pricing battle difficult to sustain.

Instead, Indian companies should build capabilities around launch frequency, payload flexibility and orbital access while maintaining commercially viable pricing, he said.

The focus on launch cadence reflects a broader shift in the global space industry. The satellite market is moving towards larger constellations for communications, Earth observation and defence applications, creating demand for frequent and predictable launches rather than only cheaper missions.

India’s private space sector is catching up

Comparisons with the United States and China often overlook how recently India’s private space ecosystem opened up, Nair said.

While countries such as the US have spent more than two decades building commercial space capabilities backed by significantly larger defence and space budgets, India’s private sector has had only about five years following policy reforms that opened the industry to private participation.

Even so, Nair praised the government’s pace of reforms, saying multiple policy revisions over the past few years have created a more supportive environment for startups.

India’s commercial space sector has seen rapid growth since the government opened the sector to private participation in 2020. According to government data, private investment in India’s space ecosystem has crossed $618 million, with more than 100 private entities receiving authorisations for various space activities.

Investor interest has also increased as startups move from concept development towards hardware manufacturing and commercial missions. Industry data shows Indian space startups have raised hundreds of millions of dollars since 2021, despite a broader global slowdown in venture capital funding.

The sector has also started achieving key milestones. In July, Bengaluru-based Skyroot Aerospace successfully launched Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed orbital rocket, marking a significant step for the country’s commercial launch ambitions.

The mission demonstrated that India’s private space companies are moving beyond technology demonstrations and beginning to develop operational launch capabilities.

Two policy changes could accelerate growth

Despite the progress, Nair believes two additional reforms could help Indian launch companies scale faster.

The first is allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment through the automatic route for launch vehicle companies, replacing the current limit that requires approvals beyond a certain threshold.

The second is introducing a government procurement programme similar to NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), which helped early-stage companies such as SpaceX by guaranteeing demand for commercial launch services.

Such measures would improve access to overseas capital while creating a stable commercial pipeline for emerging Indian launch providers, he said.

The government has recently taken additional steps to strengthen private participation, including new support schemes offering financial assistance for launch services, technology transfers, access to ISRO facilities and satellite data. The measures indicate a shift from enabling private participation to actively supporting companies trying to build commercial space capabilities.

Looking beyond India’s borders

Nair said India’s long-term ambition should not be limited to serving domestic demand.

“The market is global,” he said, arguing that Indian space companies should build technologies that make international customers increasingly dependent on Indian launch capabilities rather than focusing solely on the domestic market.

With demand for satellite launches expected to rise as governments and companies deploy larger constellations for communications, Earth observation and defence applications, India’s combination of favourable geography, engineering talent and a rapidly maturing private space ecosystem could position it as one of the world’s leading commercial launch hubs over the coming decade.

However, the challenge will be moving beyond India’s reputation as a low-cost launch provider and building a globally competitive ecosystem based on reliability, reusable technology and frequent access to orbit.