IN-SPACe Invites Private Firms to Run India's Second Spaceport at Kulasekarapattinam

India's push to privatise its space sector took an unusually concrete step this week. On 11 August 2026, IN-SPACe — the government body that authorises and regulates private space activity — invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) from eligible Indian firms to take over the operation and management of the country's second spaceport, the dedicated Small Satellite Launch Complex being built at Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi district.

It is a notable shift. India's launch infrastructure has always been run by the state. Handing the day-to-day operation of an entire launch complex to a private operator, rather than simply granting companies access to a government-run pad, is a first for the country's space programme.

What the operator would take on

The winning entity would be responsible for running launch campaigns at the complex, maintaining the facility, and acting as the commercial interface between the spaceport and the rocket companies that want to fly from it. In other words, the operator would function much like the manager of a commercial airport for small rockets — scheduling users, keeping the infrastructure flight-ready, and handling the business relationship with launch customers.

Ownership would not change hands. IN-SPACe has been clear that the facility remains with the Department of Space; what is being transferred is operational responsibility, not the asset itself. To smooth the handover, ISRO would provide technical support and training for a defined period — up to one year or three launches — after which the private operator is expected to run the site independently.

A spaceport built for small rockets

The Kulasekarapattinam complex is purpose-built for the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) and comparable small commercial launch vehicles carrying payloads of up to roughly 500 kilograms. That focus matters. India's existing spaceport at Sriharikota is optimised around the larger PSLV and LVM3 vehicles and their national missions; a second site tuned for small, high-cadence launches is exactly the kind of infrastructure a commercial small-launch industry needs. The facility is still under construction and is targeted for completion by the end of 2026.

A deeper turn toward privatisation

The EoI fits a pattern that has accelerated since India opened its space sector to private players. IN-SPACe has already issued technology transfers, authorised private launches, and cleared a growing roster of startups to operate. But those moves largely kept the government in the role of infrastructure owner-operator while companies built rockets and satellites. Inviting a private firm to actually run a launch complex pushes the model a step further, toward a division of labour that looks more like mature commercial space markets abroad, where ranges and pads are frequently operated by non-government entities.

For India's crop of private launch companies — the firms building small rockets aimed precisely at the payload class Kulasekarapattinam is designed to serve — a privately operated, commercially oriented spaceport could mean faster scheduling and fewer bureaucratic bottlenecks than a state-run range. For the eventual operator, it is a chance to sit at the centre of that emerging market.

Much still depends on the details: who qualifies, how revenue and liability are shared, and how cleanly responsibility passes from ISRO to a commercial team once the training window closes. But the direction of travel is unmistakable. With this EoI, India is not just letting private companies launch from its soil — it is preparing to let them run the launch site itself.

Sources

• Tech Times, "IN-SPACe Hands India's Second Spaceport to Private Operator, Bypassing NSIL Mandate" — https://www.techtimes.com/articles/323993/20260811/space-hands-indias-second-spaceport-private-operator-bypassing-nsil-mandate.htm
• Telugu Times, "Why Is ISRO Letting Private Companies Run Its New Spaceport?" — https://www.telugutimes.net/en/special-news/why-is-isro-letting-private-companies-run-its-new-spaceport-356594.html
• All India Radio (NewsOnAir), "IN-SPACe calls for Expression of Interest from Indian private industries" — https://newsonair.gov.in/