Indian Space Policy 2023 (ISP-2023) — NewSpace framework opening private-sector launch and satellite activity

Mechanism

ISP-2023 restructures India's space sector along four institutional axes:

1. ISRO is redirected away from operational and production work toward R&D in advanced space technologies, human spaceflight, and deep-space exploration. ISRO no longer competes with private operators in commercial launch or satellite manufacturing. 2. IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, set up under the Department of Space in 2020) is designated the single-window authorising and regulating body for all NGE space activities — granting launch authorisations, spectrum coordination, and ITU filings on behalf of NGEs, and promoting the commercial ecosystem. 3. NSIL (NewSpace India Limited, the commercial arm of DoS) is the commercial-production and launch-services entity that operates ISRO's space assets on a commercial basis and aggregates end-user demand. 4. NGEs — private Indian companies, academic institutions, and research bodies — are authorised end-to-end across the value chain: building and operating launch vehicles, satellites, ground stations, and downstream applications, with ITU-filing rights and authorisation to undertake asteroid-resource recovery.

ISP-2023 is the parent authority under which IN-SPACe published the Norms, Guidelines and Procedures (NGP-2024) in May 2024, codifying operational rules for launch authorisation, FDI norms, indemnification, and liability. The October 2024 100% FDI allowance for satellites (component manufacturing) and 74% for satellite manufacturing / operations also traces back to ISP-2023's enabling architecture.

Downstream implications

• Parent framework for the entire Indian NewSpace ecosystem.

Subsequent IN-SPACe regulations (NGP-2024), DoS FDI relaxations (Oct 2024), and ISRO/private SSLV-D handovers all derive their authorising basis from ISP-2023.

• Structurally peer to the **Japan Space Technology Strategy

(2024-03-28) filed for JP, the EU Space Act (COM(2025) 335)** filed 2025-06-25, and the US National Space Policy framework — closes the aerospace=0 / satellite=1 register gap noted in discovery, and is the first India action in the space pillar.

• Reorients the Indian primes (Larsen & Toubro, HAL, Godrej

Aerospace — long-time ISRO contractors) and an emerging tier of Indian NewSpace startups (Skyroot Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos, Pixxel, Bellatrix, Dhruva Space) toward a private commercial launch and satellite-services market.

• Aligns India with the global re-architecting of state-supported

space-industrial bases (US/EU/JP/CN) and creates the policy floor for Quad space-domain awareness, civil-PNT (NavIC), and Earth-observation cooperation.

• ITU-filing rights for NGEs are a structural shift — Indian private

operators can now claim orbital-slot and spectrum filings on the same footing as European/US operators, materially altering the GEO/MEO competitive landscape.

Open questions

• Pace at which IN-SPACe's authorisation throughput can scale to

meet NGE demand — bottleneck risk for the first commercial cohort.

• Treatment of dual-use payloads under India's export-control

regime (SCOMET) and any reciprocal MTCR-aligned tightening.

• Whether the policy's 10% global-share target is achievable on the

current FY budget envelope absent a Japan-style ¥1tn Strategy Fund analogue — successor instruments (Space Technology Promotion Scheme, ₹1,000cr venture-capital fund announced 2024) are comparatively modest in scale.

• Coordination with the Geospatial Data Policy 2022 and

Telecommunications (Spectrum) Act 2023 on satellite-broadband spectrum allocation (LEO constellations).