The New York Times in a rare incidence has lauded India’s space programme under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It has said the country has been witnessing growth in space tech start-ups and is set to transform the planet’s connection with the final frontier and can also act as a counterweight to the aspiring superpower, China.

The article titled ‘The Surprising Striver in the World’s Space Business’ says that India has become home to 140 registered space tech start-ups, comprising a local research field that stands to transform the planet’s connection to the final frontier. The start-ups’ growth has been explosive, leaping from 5 from when the pandemic started.  

"When it launched its first rocket in 1963, India was a poor country pursuing the world's most cutting-edge technology. That projectile, its nose cone wheeled to the launchpad by a bicycle, put a small payload 124 miles above the Earth. India was barely pretending to keep up with the US and the Soviet Union. In today's space race, India has found much surer footing,” the NYT article said.  

The NYT report added that both the US and India see space as an arena in which India can emerge as a counterweight to their mutual rival: China. “One of India’s advantages is geopolitical,” NYT said as it added that Russia and China had historically offered lower-cost options for launches.

"But the war in Ukraine has all but ended Russia’s role as a competitor,” it said as it cited the USD 230 million hit British satellite start-up OneWeb took after Russia impounded 36 of its space-craft in September. OneWeb’s next constellation of satellites was sent into orbit by India’s Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). "Likewise, the US government would be more likely to approve any American company’s sending military-grade technology through India than through China," the NYT said.

The New York Times added, "Since June 2020, when Mr. Modi announced a push for the space sector, opening it up to all kinds of private enterprise, India has launched a network of businesses, each driven by original research and homegrown talent. Last year, the space start-ups raked in USD 120 million in new investment, at a rate that is doubling or tripling annually.”

The report also mentions Skyroot Aerospace and Dhruva Space as the “relatively sexy sectors” of launch and satellite delivery but these two only have a share of 8% in the market. The rest of the share comes from companies who specialize in data collection, analysis which is beamed by satellite.

The NYT termed India’s vendor ecosystem as “staggering in size” and has said that years of conducting business with ISRO has created about 400 private companies in clusters in Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, etc. Each of them dedicated to building special screws, sealants and other products needed in space.