The clarification follows a demand by nine ISRO staff associations for a written explanation of how the reforms would affect the organisation and its employees.
BY PC Bureau
NEW DELHI/September 6: ISRO has made it clear that India’s space-sector reforms are not about selling off the organisation or reducing its role, but about expanding the country’s overall space capabilities while allowing private companies to take on activities that have become commercially viable.
The clarification came on Sunday, two days after nine staff associations across ISRO centres sought a written explanation of how the ongoing reforms would affect the organisation and its employees.
In its response, ISRO said it would continue to remain at the core of India’s space programme, with responsibility for advanced space research, national and strategic missions, space science and exploration, and high-end technologies that the private sector cannot readily substitute.
At the same time, the agency said greater private-sector participation should not be viewed as a dilution of its mandate. Instead, it would enable ISRO to concentrate its scientific and technological resources on advanced research and complex national requirements, while industry takes proven technologies towards larger-scale production and commercial deployment.
The change, according to ISRO, is therefore in the structure of India’s space ecosystem rather than in the status of the space agency itself.
The reforms introduced under the Indian Space Policy 2023 seek to widen participation across the sector by bringing private companies, start-ups and academic institutions into different parts of the space value chain.
ISRO has already transferred a number of mature technologies to Indian industry. The agency has argued that such transfers do not represent its withdrawal from those areas. Rather, they allow companies to manufacture at scale, develop commercial applications, attract investment and compete in international markets.
Clarification regarding media reports on concerns relating to Space Sector Reforms and the role of ISRO
ISRO’s Next Chapter: Leading India’s National Space Ecosystem
There has been considerable reporting in parts of the media around the future role of ISRO including speculations…— ISRO (@isro) September 6, 2026
This division of responsibilities is intended to allow ISRO to devote greater attention to frontier research, advanced technologies, human spaceflight, next-generation launch systems, deep-space and planetary exploration and strategic capabilities.
The policy shift also reflects the emergence of a broader Indian space industry, with private companies increasingly participating in satellite manufacturing, launch services, applications and other space-related activities.
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ISRO has stressed that private participation will operate within a regulatory framework covering national security, safety and other strategic considerations.
Critical national space infrastructure and strategic capabilities, meanwhile, will remain under government ownership and control. Private companies can undertake operational and commercial activities where permitted by the regulatory framework.
The government has also opened the sector to greater private and foreign investment as part of efforts to attract capital, technology and global partnerships.
The role of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) is important in this transition. As the commercial arm of the Department of Space, NSIL is responsible for commercialising ISRO technologies and services and facilitating greater industry participation. This allows the research organisation and the commercial ecosystem to operate with clearer, complementary roles.
The underlying message from ISRO is that private participation does not mean privatisation of ISRO.
Instead, the agency envisages an ISRO-led national space ecosystem in which government institutions retain responsibility for strategic and advanced capabilities while private industry contributes investment, manufacturing capacity, innovation and market access.
The clarification is likely to be closely watched within ISRO, particularly by employees concerned that the growing role of private companies could eventually alter the organisation’s mandate, workforce structure or control over space activities.
For now, ISRO’s position is unequivocal: space-sector reforms are intended to enlarge India’s space capabilities, not diminish the role of the country’s premier space research organisation.
