India possesses the unique capability to assemble Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLVs) in just 72 hours with operational teams of only six people. When combined with the historic Mars and Moon missions executed by ISRO, the nation has solidified its global reputation for highly reliable, cost-effective space engineering. This deep expertise comes at a critical time of surging global demand for sovereign space assets, particularly across the Global South.
Developing nations are increasingly looking to India to fill this critical technological supply gap. Building upon foundational initiatives like ISRO’s UNNATI program—which provided intensive nanosatellite training to officials from 45 countries—India has a prime opportunity to establish lasting commercial and strategic leadership. The central question forward is clear: how can an industrial export framework sustainably operationalize India’s space cooperation with the Global South?
The Architecture of the Space Stack
To systematically capture this market, I propose an integrated industrial export framework: the “Space Stack”. This model harmonizes India’s existing capabilities into a highly competitive, end-to-end sovereign offering built across three core pillars:
-
Modular Space Hardware: Standardizing the export of highly cost-effective satellite buses equipped with adaptable, multi-sensor payloads.
-
Agile Launch Services: Leveraging rapid-response SSLVs alongside private sector launch vehicles, such as those developed by Skyroot, which are optimized for regular production cycles.
-
Scientific Training: Expanding past the baseline of the UNNATI program to embed formalized space knowledge transfer and capacity-building directly into all export agreements.
While the landmark Indian Space Policy 2023 successfully deregulated the domestic sector, the next frontier requires deeper institutional coordination. Under this proposed framework, ISRO would act as the primary anchor for government-to-government agreements, while seamlessly contracting the physical manufacturing and assembly workflows to private aerospace players like Dhruva Space.
Holistic Financing and De-Risking Startups
To successfully outcompete the rigid, turnkey infrastructure models frequently deployed by established global powers—which often impose long-term financial dependency—India must offer flexible financing mechanisms.
The Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of India can play a vital role by offering international buyers dedicated credit lines backed by the National Export Insurance Account. This structure ensures that young Indian hardware startups are compensated immediately upon completing procurement milestones, while the purchasing country repays the institutional lender over a manageable timeframe. Protecting our innovative space ecosystem from international default risks provides the immediate liquidity needed to sustain continuous R&D and manufacturing scaling.
Regulatory Streamlining and Global Responsibility
Despite domestic deregulation, high-tech aerospace exports remain inherently constrained by strict SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment, and Technologies) dual-use controls. To resolve this bottleneck, India should institute a unified single-window clearance mechanism under IN-SPACe. This step will deliver a fast-tracked, institutionally responsible regulatory pathway, allowing private space enterprises to remain highly competitive in fast-moving global bidding processes.
Finally, to anchor India’s position as a responsible global leader, the industrial Space Stack must proactively manage critical external risks:
-
Space Safety: Export agreements should mandate buyer integration into a collaborative orbital warning and tracking network to actively prevent satellite collisions.
-
Dual-Use Monitoring: Implementing rigorous end-use monitoring frameworks to ensure exported Indian technologies are strictly restricted from unauthorized military applications.
The deployment of a Space Stack promises to be an extraordinary evolution of the globally recognized “India Stack” model. By synthesizing public capabilities with private agility, this framework will build deep manufacturing prowess, generate high-skill employment, and firmly establish India’s strategic leadership across the emerging space economies of the Global South.
*By Anmol Das: London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom | NXT Fellow 2026
