The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday rejected media reports suggesting privatisation or a reduction in its role amid ongoing space-sector reforms.
Terming these reports "completely baseless and incorrect", the space agency said it will neither be privatised nor will its importance be diminished.
“ISRO will continue to remain India’s principal institution for advanced space research and technology development, national and strategic missions, space science and exploration, and critical and frontier space capabilities,” it said in a detailed statement.
The agency further sought to clarify that the participation of the private sector in space is not about reducing ISRO’s role, but about enabling ISRO to focus even more strongly on the next generation of India’s space programme.
“What is changing is not the importance of ISRO, but the scale and structure of India’s space ecosystem,” it said.
The agency’s clarification came a day after nine employee associations at ISRO wrote to its chairman, V. Narayanan, seeking clarity on the agency’s future role under the proposed changes and their implications for serving employees and future recruitment.
The letter came against the backdrop of media reports that the Narendra Modi government has put forward a proposal to transfer the manufacturing and operational functions of ISRO to private companies.
The agency clarified in its statement that these reforms should therefore be seen as ecosystem expansion and capability multiplication, not privatisation.
“As India’s industrial and technological capabilities have grown, mature and scalable activities can increasingly be undertaken by Indian industry. ISRO has already transferred around multiple technologies to industry. Transferring a mature technology does not mean ISRO is withdrawing from that domain,” the agency said.
It noted that the reforms would enable large-scale production, commercialisation, innovation and access to global markets while allowing ISRO’s scientific and technical manpower to concentrate on advanced research, next-generation technologies and complex national missions.
The space agency further explained the significance of the ecosystem expansion, saying mature and routinely manufactured systems can increasingly be scaled through industry. Production of mature launch vehicles, routine satellites and other established systems can be undertaken by industry or PSUs through appropriate competitive processes, it added.
“This allows ISRO to devote more resources and scientific manpower to the next generation of technologies and missions, while the wider ecosystem provides the investment, manufacturing capacity and scale required by an expanding national space programme,” said the statement.
The space agency also asserted that it will continue developing cutting-edge technologies, including advanced payloads for communication, navigation and Earth observation, sensors, propulsion systems and other critical technologies.
