Skyroot highlights India's transformation in space and deep-tech manufacturing

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Highlights

In 2020, the Indian government changed the rules to allow private participation in the space sector, giving startups such as Skyroot access to public capabilities under the IN-SPACe framework.
By launching Vikram-S in November 2022 and later sending Vikram-1 into orbit, Skyroot Aerospace underscored the technological and policy milestones of India's private space ecosystem.
Skyroot's team of more than 1,000 young people and the Prime Minister's inauguration of its Infinity campus highlight the need for deep-tech careers, innovation and risk capital across the ecosystem.

This article was translated from the original. Read the original version by our correspondent here.

Space reforms and Skyroot's experience

In a commentary published in Forbes India, Skyroot Aerospace co-founder Pawan Kumar Chandana writes that, until shortly before the launch of Vikram-S in November 2022, the company was pursuing a goal for which there was no established private-sector model in India. According to him, ISRO, IN-SPACe and various parts of the government helped resolve issues and advance the mission while maintaining strict safety and procedural standards.

Chandana says that when Skyroot was founded in 2018, building an orbital-class launch vehicle was still largely uncharted territory. In his view, the turning point came in 2020, when the Indian government opened the space sector to greater private participation and frameworks such as IN-SPACe gave entrepreneurs a clear path to work alongside public space capabilities.

He writes that Skyroot launched Vikram-S from Sriharikota in November 2022, while Vikram-1 later reached orbit on its maiden flight. In his view, these milestones are not just engineering achievements; they show that ambitious technological projects can move faster when policy, institutions, private capital and entrepreneurial ambition are aligned.

The impact on young talent and deep-tech

Chandana argues that recognition at the highest levels can also enable the ecosystem. He notes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the company's Infinity campus in Hyderabad and congratulated the team after Vikram-1, which he considers important for the morale of a young organization.

According to him, such recognition has an impact beyond any one company, as it signals to entrepreneurs, scientists and engineers that ambitious technology work is a national priority. Chandana writes that growing activity in areas such as semiconductors, defense technology, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, clean energy and global software reinforces the belief that the question is no longer whether sophisticated technology can be built in India, but how quickly it can be scaled.

He attributes this shift to the combined impact of ISRO's public capabilities, built over decades, a growing private ecosystem and a young engineering workforce. According to Chandana, Skyroot's team of more than 1,000 people has an average age of around 28, indicating that world-class technology careers and domestic innovation are advancing together in India.

Looking ahead, he says India's next challenge is not merely to become a large market for technologies developed elsewhere, but to become a hub for designing, engineering and manufacturing the technologies that will define the coming decades. In his view, this will require continued deep investment in research, more risk capital for hard technology, and stronger collaboration between government, academia and industry.

Our previous report discussed the long-term demand for semiconductor chips and the sector's strategic importance for India, highlighting the need to focus on demand, financial viability and national capacity-building even amid global uncertainty. In the same context, we also noted that amid the current AI boom, companies may find it more practical to build scalable solutions based on real-world utility and ROI—not hype—using low-cost or open-source models.

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