Infosys eyes space tech entry with bid to build & launch satellite

Information Technology (IT) major Infosys is eyeing opportunities in India’s space tech sector and has put forward its name as a contender to build and launch satellites.

Sources say that a consortium of companies — which includes Infosys, space tech start-up GalaxEye and another undisclosed engineering R&D firm — is among the six private players shortlisted by space regulatory body Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) for its ₹1,500 crore satellite constellation project.

Sources say that the space body has issued a draft request for proposal to the six shortlisted teams. These teams will have to submit detailed financial and operational plans by March 31. Subsequently, IN-SPACe will select one team out of the six.

IN-SPACEe declined to name those shortlisted. “Six applicants have been shortlisted through EOI process. A draft RfP has been issued to the shortlisted applicants. The final RfP will be issued in the second half of the month,” IN-SPACe told businessline, in a statement.

Media reports suggest that consortiums of SatSure, Pixxel, Dhruva Space and PierSight; Astra, Bharat Electronics and Sisir Radar; Tata Advanced Systems; Centum; and Ananth Technologies, Solar Group and XDLINX are also shortlisted. Infosys, however, stands out as an IT services player foraying into the geospatial sector.

Geospatial data is of huge value to government agencies for their tasks and while traditionally this data has been provided by ISRO, the private sector will now play a larger role. If selected, Infosys and its consortium will get the opportunity to monetise space data and related services, thus growing its presence in the global geospatial market. This, in turn, can help the IT major’s clients in data-driven business transformation, experts note.

“The interesting thing about the program is that the government will merely extend financial support and it wants the private sector to manage end-to-end design, building and operating the satellite constellation. It is a big boost to the winning team in terms of the scale of geospatial data they will have access to once their satellites are up,” a space sector executive said.

Earlier in July 2024, IN-SPACe, invited proposals from non-government entities to build and manage a space-based Earth Observation (EO) satellite system under a PPP model. As per the note, the selected entity will be expected to design, build and also launch the satellites. They are also expected to monitor spacecraft health, and download process data from the satellites, generating valuable insights.

Infosys did not respond to businessline’s queries at the time of going to print.

GalaxEye Space, initially incubated at IIT-Madras and is now based in Bengaluru, is involved in developing multi-sensor satellites and synchronisation platforms. Suyash Singh, Co-Founder & CEO said: “We have received the RFP, and are working on it. We look forward to how this opportunity evolves for us and the ecosystem at large.” The company did not disclose names of its partners.

Interestingly, Infosys, through the Infosys Innovation Fund invested around $2 million (around ₹17 crore) in GalaxEye in September 2024 for a minority (less than 20 per cent) stake. “The downstream applications of space technology and the datasets powered by AI and analytics presents a potential of data-driven decisions spanning multiple industries,” Infosys had said in a statement then.