Warplane maker HAL wins bid to privatise India's small satellite launch rockets
BENGALURU :Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has won the bid to privately make India's small satellite launch rockets, the country's space regulator said on Friday, the government's biggest step yet to open its fast-growing space industry to private players.
Reuters reported in February that three consortiums - Alpha Design Technologies, a unit of Adani Defence Systems and Technologies, state-backed Bharat Dynamics and HAL - were the finalists to acquire India's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) technology.
Fighter jet maker HAL had applied independently, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement on Friday.
HAL's wining bid was 5.11 billion rupees ($59 million), Pawan Goenka, the head of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) told reporters, adding that the technology transfer phase will take two years.
Shares of HAL rose as much as 1.6 per cent to hit session's high at 4,980 rupees after the announcement.
The move to hand the SSLV's technology to HAL marks a significant shift for India's space industry, which has already granted satellite communication service licenses to global and domestic firms such as France's Eutelsat and Reliance Jio's satellite venture.
By winning the bid to make the rocket, capable of carrying 500kg payloads to low-Earth orbit, HAL will have the capability to independently build, own, and commercialize SSLV launches, Goenka added.
About 20 companies had initially expressed interest in bidding for the SSLV, the first privatisation of its kind under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy drive to open up India's space industry.
The global low Earth orbit launch vehicle market was valued at $13.9 billion in 2023 and is estimated to grow to about $44 billion by 2032, according to Global Market Insights.
India, which accounts for only 2 per cent of the global space economy, is eyeing a fivefold expansion to $44 billion by the end of the decade.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
3 hours ago
- CNA
Russia signs investment deal with Myanmar, sees offshore oil and gas prospects
ST PETERSBURG :Russia signed an investment agreement with Myanmar on Friday that it said could open up new opportunities for Russian energy companies in the south Asian country. "We especially note the readiness of the Myanmar side to attract Russian companies to the development of offshore oil and gas fields," Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said after signing the agreement in St Petersburg with Kan Zaw, Myanmar's minister of investment and foreign economic relations. Russia said the deal would help accelerate projects including in Myanmar's Dawei special economic zone, where a 660 MW coal-fired thermal power plant is being developed. Russia has been building closer ties with Myanmar's military junta, which seized power in 2021 by toppling the elected government of Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The country is struggling with internal conflict, an economy in tatters, widespread hunger and a third of the nation's 55 million people in need of aid, according to the United Nations. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing met Russian President Vladimir Putin in March and signed an agreement on construction of a small-scale nuclear plant in Myanmar. A month earlier, the two countries signed a memorandum on construction of a port and oil refinery in the Dawei economic zone. Friday's agreement will also facilitate cooperation in areas including transport infrastructure, metallurgy, agriculture and telecommunications, the Russian government said.
CNA
3 hours ago
- CNA
Warplane maker HAL wins bid to make India's small satellite launch rockets
BENGALURU : State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has won a bid to commercially make India's small satellite launch rockets, in the government's biggest move yet to open its fast-growing space industry to private players. Fighter jet maker HAL won with a bid of 5.11 billion rupees ($59 million), space regulator the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre said on Friday. Reuters reported in February that three consortiums - Alpha Design Technologies, a unit of Adani Defence Systems and Technologies, state-backed Bharat Dynamics and HAL - were the finalists to acquire India's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) technology. "One of the big things we have been wanting to do is to make India the global hub for small satellite launches," Pawan Goenka, chairman of IN-SPACe told reporters. Shares of HAL rose as much as 1.6 per cent to hit a session high of 4,980 rupees after the announcement. Handing SSLV's technology to HAL marks a significant shift for India's space industry, which has already granted satellite communication service licenses to global and domestic firms such as France's Eutelsat and Reliance Jio's satellite venture. The rocket is capable of carrying 500kg payloads to low-Earth orbit. HAL will have the capability to build, own, and commercialize SSLV launches, Goenka added. HAL intends to offer a "very competitive" price on launches both for India and international clients, said Barenya Senapati, Director (Finance) at Hindustan Aeronautics. About 20 companies had initially expressed interest in bidding for the SSLV, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy drive to open up India's space industry. The global low-Earth orbit launch vehicle market was valued at $13.9 billion in 2023 and is estimated to grow to about $44 billion by 2032, according to Global Market Insights. India, which accounts for only 2 per cent of the global space economy, is eyeing a fivefold expansion to $44 billion by the end of the decade. Hindustan Aeronautics and Larsen & Toubro, an industrial conglomerate, have a government contract to manufacture and deliver larger rockets to Indian Space Research Organisation. The first of those are due for launch between October and December, said Radhakrishnan Durairaj, chairman and managing director of New Space India Limited, the commercial arm of ISRO.
CNA
3 hours ago
- CNA
JERA, Woodside Energy agree on supply deal during winter months
TOKYO :Japan's biggest power generator, JERA, and Australia's Woodside Energy have signed a deal for Woodside to supply JERA with liquefied natural gas during the winter months, the companies said on Friday. The Heads of Agreement was signed at the LNG Producer-Consumer Conference held in Tokyo. Under the deal, Woodside will supply about 200,000 metric tons of LNG annually during the December to February period, starting in fiscal year 2027, according to a JERA spokesperson. JERA, jointly owned by Tokyo Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power, is Japan's largest LNG buyer.
