Context: India’s space economy, currently estimated at $13 billion, is set to touch $40 billion by 2030, according to the recent India Spacetech-2026 report by early-stage venture capital (VC) firm, Arkam Ventures.
- Titled ‘India’s Space Odyssey’, the report forecasts the sector to grow at twice the pace of the global market and that structural shifts in India’s spacetech ecosystem will propel it to the world’s third-largest space-tech economy by 2030. The growth will be fuelled by cost-efficient engineering, deep manufacturing capabilities and a new generation of start-ups building advanced space technologies for customers worldwide, it noted.
- Over the past five years, more than 300 space-tech start-ups have emerged in India, in areas such as satellite manufacturing, earth observation, launch vehicles, and in-space solutions. “More than two-thirds of the historical capital flows in the Indian spacetech sector have come in the last five years, post the space policy being formulated. We expect $3 billion to $5 billion of private capital flows in the sector over the next couple of years to fund cutting edge space innovations.” the report read. According to the VC, this momentum is built on ISRO’s legacy of low-cost, high-impact missions and its active support for private innovation.
- “India is uniquely positioned to lead the global spacetech sector fuelled by the unique ecosystem development role played by the ISRO and the support from the government. Over the next five years, we expect $3billion to $3.5 billion of the VC and Private Equity investments in the sector,” said Rahul Chandra, managing director, Arkam Ventures.