For millennia, Indians have looked to the heavens, charting the movements of stars and planets. Through astrology, they have sought clues to what the future might bear.
Today, however, a new generation of Indians is looking skywards with a different ambition—not to divine the future, but to venture into the cosmos.
The successful launch of Vikram-1 by Skyroot Aerospace, India’s first space-tech unicorn, from Sriharikota in July was a milestone for the country’s private space industry. As the four-stage launch vehicle, built with an all-carbon-composite structure, blazed into the sky, it carried with it the ambition and can-do spirit of a new generation of founders.
This comes after six decades of public investment in space science and technology, and a series of sweeping reforms beginning in 2020 that opened the sector to private enterprise. The results are visible. India now has around 450 space start-ups, developing everything from rockets and satellites to advanced propulsion systems and space-based services. But these breakthroughs are only the beginning. As Pradip K. Saha writes in this issue’s two-part cover package, the bigger challenge will be turning early successes into sustainable, profitable businesses.
Elsewhere, Surabhi examines India’s increasingly worrying jobs challenge. The sad reality is that too many educated young Indians are struggling to find secure and reasonably well-paid work. Fresh graduates complain that entry-level jobs are scarce, and often pay so little that they live hand-to-mouth. Meanwhile, recruiters point to a dearth of skilled hands. Little wonder, then, that the lure of a sarkari job remains undiminished, especially as entry-level government jobs pay more than the private sector. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence and the ongoing US H-1B visa clampdown are only compounding the challenge.
Against this backdrop, question marks persist over India Inc’s willingness to invest and hire. The quarterly Business Today-C Fore Business Confidence Index for October-December offers little reassurance that companies are ready to loosen their purse strings. Only 11% of the 500 C-Suite executives surveyed say they plan festive-season hiring, while a paltry 6% intend to increase capital spending.
Do note that the survey was conducted before the Reserve Bank of India raised interest rates for the first time in nearly four years. Crude oil above $100, rising global bond yields, and persistent selling by foreign investors have battered equities and the rupee. Despite unprecedented dollar inflows and central bank intervention, the Indian currency remains near record lows, while foreign exchange reserves have fallen by about $51 billion in just four weeks.
As we enter the festive season, consumer spending is expected to pick up. But the risks of higher inflation and slower growth continue to cloud the outlook for investment and hiring.
India’s entrepreneurs are reaching for the stars, and policymakers need to help them soar even higher.
@szarabi
