The Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) made headlines in 2014 when it managed to successfully place its Orbiter viz. Mangalyan, in Mars's Orbit at almost 1/10th of the cost borne by world's leading space agency NASA, thus making India the first country to enter the red planet's orbit in its very first try. Fast forward in 2017, ISRO again garnered accolades for its feat of successfully launching a record 104 satellites in Earth's Orbit from a single launcher. The aforementioned achievements have placed ISRO among the top league of the space agencies in the world. Undeniably ISRO has come a long way from carrying its first rocket on bicycles to Mars orbital mission (MOM), but has it grown enough to compete against the private players in space which are flush with money?

The first thing that holds our very own national space agency from growing up to its capability is the lack of funds. Space programs are expensive and India, being a developing economy cannot afford to generously fund them at par with other Space agencies of the first world or the rich private firms like SpaceX. There is definitely no dearth of talent in ISRO, but most of their space programs are underfunded. The Lack of funds also leads to an underdeveloped infrastructure which is evident from the fact that ISRO uses its only launching pad in Shriharikota to launch all its rockets/satellites.

Secondly, being a government-funded organization, ISRO is also put down by the very prevalent red-tapism, and even a very potent project or research might take months to get the government’s nod. Private players have an upper hand here as they have the flexibility to start and stop a project whenever they find the need or adapt the latest technology to innovate. Setting up a dedicated panel instead of going through the lengthy government procedures to get even the most minor approvals will bring in the much-needed agility in the organization.

The expenditure incurred by ISRO in MOM and the recent launch of 104 satellites show that ISRO has learned to make the best of the funds allocated and has come up as a cheaper alternative to other players. This is its USP and if it wants to take the private players head-on, it must play by its strength.