India's space economy was about $8.4 billion in 2022, roughly 2–3% of the world's, and the government aims to grow it to $44 billion by 2033.
The space economy is more than rockets. It includes launch services, building and running satellites and ground stations, Earth-observation data, satellite communication, satellite navigation, and services in orbit.
IN-SPACe's Decadal Vision sets a ten-year roadmap to grow India's space economy from $8.4 billion in 2022 to $44 billion by 2033, including $11 billion of exports. In 2023 the government put India's share of the global space economy at about 2–3%.
Space was opened to private companies in 2020. The Indian Space Policy 2023 then allowed them into every part of the business. In February 2024 foreign investment rules were eased, and in October 2024 the Cabinet approved a ₹1,000 crore venture capital fund for space start-ups.
The results show up in numbers. India had one registered space start-up in 2014 and more than 400 by February 2026. NSIL's revenue grew from ₹321.77 crore in 2021-22 to ₹3,246.09 crore in 2024-25. By January 2026 about 1,050 private companies had listed their capabilities on IN-SPACe's digital platform.
The Decadal Vision rests on three pillars: earning revenue, building the industrial ecosystem, and creating demand through international partnerships and a wider space culture.
Much of the space economy is invisible. Under PM e-VIDYA, 370 educational TV channels reach students through the GSAT-15 and GSAT-9 satellites. ISRO has worked with chipmakers including Qualcomm to bring NavIC into phones. Satellite data feeds weather forecasts, crop monitoring and disaster maps.
Worked example: growing from $8.4 billion to $44 billion is 44 ÷ 8.4 ≈ 5.2 times. Spread over 11 years (2022 to 2033), that needs about 16% growth every year, which doubles the economy roughly every 4.6 years.
These satellites are the navigation slice of India's space economy: phones with NavIC support use their signals to work out position. Track the NavIC satellites
The growth rate. Compound annual growth rate = (end ÷ start)^(1/years) − 1. Here (44 ÷ 8.4)^(1/11) − 1. Take logs: ln(5.24) ≈ 1.656. Divide by 11: 0.1505. Then e^0.1505 ≈ 1.162, so the rate is about 16.2% a year.
Doubling time = ln 2 ÷ ln(1.162) ≈ 0.693 ÷ 0.150 ≈ 4.6 years.
Global share. A June 2026 government backgrounder says India aims for an 8% share of the global space economy by 2030, up from 2–3% today.
Exports. $11 billion of the $44 billion target is exports, a quarter of the total. That is why selling launches and satellite data abroad matters as much as serving Indian users.
Be careful with the base year. The IN-SPACe Decadal Vision dates the $8.4 billion figure to 2022. Other government statements give a similar figure without a firm year, and a June 2026 government backgrounder rounds it to about $8 billion. Estimates of a 'space economy' depend on what is counted, so figures from different sources may not match.
Budget versus economy. The Department of Space's budget (₹13,705.63 crore for 2026-27) is government spending. The space economy also counts private revenue from services built on satellites, which is why it can grow faster than the budget.
$44 billion, up from about $8.4 billion in 2022, including $11 billion in exports, according to IN-SPACe's Decadal Vision.
Any three of: launch services, satellite and ground operations, Earth observation, satellite communication, satellite navigation and the in-orbit economy.
About 16% a year, since (44 ÷ 8.4)^(1/11) ≈ 1.16.