The Indian Space Policy 2023 lets private companies do every kind of space activity, makes IN-SPACe the single authorising body, and refocuses ISRO on research.
The Indian Space Policy 2023 is an 11-page document from the Department of Space. Its preamble says the government opened space to non-government entities (private companies, partnerships, trusts and similar bodies) in 2020, and that the policy now gives them regulatory certainty.
It applies to any space activity to or from Indian territory, or within India's jurisdiction, out to the edge of India's exclusive economic zone at sea.
Private firms may now work end to end. They can build and run communication and Earth-observation satellites, sell satellite data, set up ground stations, build rockets and launch pads, and track objects in orbit.
The policy even allows commercial recovery of asteroid or other space resources. A company may own and sell what it recovers, but only in line with the law and India's international obligations. Buyers of space services, public or private, are free to buy from any supplier.
ISRO's satellite data also opens up. Images at a ground sampling distance of 5 m or coarser are free and open to all. Finer images are free for government users and sold at fair prices to others.
In February 2024 the Union Cabinet eased foreign investment rules to match the policy. Satellite manufacturing and operation can now take up to 74% foreign investment without prior approval. Launch vehicles and spaceports can take up to 49%, and satellite components up to 100%.
Worked example: ground sampling distance (GSD) is the ground size of one pixel. At 30 cm GSD, a 4.5 m car is 4.5 ÷ 0.3 = 15 pixels long, clear enough to see its shape. Sharing images that sharp needs IN-SPACe's authorisation. At 5 m GSD the same car is less than one pixel, and ISRO gives that data away free.
Pick out the Earth-observation satellites: their images are what the policy's open-data rule covers, free at 5 m resolution and coarser. Track ISRO satellites
How much more data is high resolution? One square kilometre is 1,000 m × 1,000 m.
That is about 278 times more pixels for the same ground, which is why sharper imagery costs more to collect, store and send down.
Why the 30 cm line matters. The policy says IN-SPACe authorisation is needed to share imagery of 30 cm or finer because of national security. Coarser imagery only needs IN-SPACe to be informed, and the threshold is to be reviewed from time to time.
Authorisation list. IN-SPACe's single-window authorisation covers nine areas: operating space objects; launching rockets, including sub-orbital ones; launch pads, including mobile ones; planned re-entry; TT&C (telemetry, tracking and command) earth stations; satellite control centres and data stations; sharing high-resolution imagery; in-orbit sale or transfer of satellites; and anything else later notified.
Liability. The policy asks IN-SPACe to prescribe guidelines on liability for damage caused by space activities. That links Indian law to the UN treaties India has joined. See Who pays if a satellite causes damage?.
IN-SPACe, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre.
ISRO focuses on research and development of new space technology and human spaceflight, and transfers mature systems to industry instead of manufacturing operational systems itself.
Remote-sensing data with a ground sampling distance of 5 m or coarser, released on a free and open basis.