BENGALURU: Funding in India’s space business, a vital part of the region’s ambitions to become a global power, plummeted by 55 per share in 2024 to US$ 59.1 million from US$ 130.2 million the past year, according to data from marketplace intelligence platform Tracxn.
The cut, which came amid a global 20 per cent reduction in space market investment, marks the first fall in at least five years. Globally, area firms raised about US$ 28 billion over the last five years, while their American counterparts secured around US$ 354 million in the same time, Tracxn data showed.
India’s space industry has gained global attention with the Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing and the Aditya-L1 solar probe launch. The US$ 44 billion private space economy’s growth is increasingly viewed as crucial to achieving its long-term objective.
In order to support space startups, the government established a 10 billion rupee ( US$ 119 million ) fund in October 2024 and announced plans to increase India’s share of the world’s commercial space market by 2033.
Participants in the sector predicted a rise in funding in 2025.
” The next 12 months will be crucial in shaping the future of India’s space tech startups”, said Vishesh Rajaram, managing partner at Speciale Invest, which backs companies such as Agnikul Cosmos, GalaxEye, and Inspecity.
In 2023, India’s space sector hit a funding peak of US$ 130.2 million, a 32.9 per cent rise from 2022, driven by initiatives supporting satellite technology, launch vehicles, and space exploration.
” The decline aligns with the natural investment cycles of the industry”, said Pawan Chandana, founder of Skyroot Aerospace. ” Investigation activity is likely to increase as leading companies approach crucial milestones in 2025.”
Over the five years from 2020 to 2024, Indian space startups raised US$ 353.5 million across 72 funding rounds. The Indian Space Research Organization ( ISRO ) has also predicted a 20 % to 30 % increase in its budget to pay for heavy-lift rockets and deep space exploration.