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Dhruva Space, the Hyderabad based space technology company, has secured ₹105 crore in grant funding under the Government of India’s Research, Development & Innovation Fund (RDIF) for Project Garud, marking a decisive step in scaling indigenous satellite manufacturing.
What is Project Garud?
Project Garud is a next generation satellite platform designed to support the deployment of large scale satellite networks in the 500 kg class category. Rather than approaching satellite development as a one off engineering effort, the platform is conceived as a standardised, production ready system capable of being replicated efficiently to build entire constellations. Applications span telecommunications, earth observation, and national security — reflecting the platform’s importance to both commercial and public sectors.
Abhay Egoor, CTO and Co-founder of Dhruva Space, described the project as representing “the industrialisation of satellite manufacturing from India.” The goal is to establish a repeatable, scalable manufacturing pipeline capable of producing 500 to 600 satellites per year.
Reducing Foreign Dependence
A central objective of Project Garud is to reduce India’s reliance on foreign satellite technology. By developing an indigenous, production grade platform, Dhruva Space aims to build domestic capacity that can serve national programmes and growing sectoral demand.
This aligns with broader government policy. Earlier this year, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) selected Dhruva Space, alongside Astrome Technologies and Azista Industries, to develop indigenous small satellite bus platforms, providing each company a ₹5 crore developmental grant.
A Company With Momentum
Founded in 2012 by Sanjay Nekkanti, Chaitanya Dora Surapureddy, Abhay Egoor, and Krishna Teja Penamakuru, Dhruva Space provides end to end space engineering solutions including satellites, ground stations, launch services, and mission support for commercial, government, and academic customers.
In August 2025, the company successfully deployed its first commercial satellite mission, LEAP-1, aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. On the funding front, the company is currently in a pre-Series B round targeting ₹38.7 crore from investors including IAN Alpha Fund, GVFL, and Blue Ashva Capital.
The Larger Picture
Project Garud and the RDIF grant reflect the government’s commitment to fostering indigenous innovation in India’s space sector. As domestic capability in satellite manufacturing grows, initiatives of this nature serve as foundational steps toward reducing dependence on foreign technology and building long term capacity within the country’s space ecosystem.
