Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and USA have a conflicting relationship when it comes to space economy. India, although a late entrant in the field, has taken many long jumps to reach at the top position, while the USA’s space game is considered the best of all.
The conflict however is one policy of the USA, according to which, “India was blacklisted by the United States after the 1998 nuclear tests in Pokhran and American companies were banned from doing business with Indian firms.”
Now, if the American companies want to use ISRO for its launches, it has to ask for a waiver from the US government, which is allotted on a case to case basis.
Out of the most recent bunch of 104 satellites that ISRO sent in space, 101 were foreign. In these 101 satellites, 96 were American.
The numbers make it clear that Indian space agency is attracting the space programs from all over the globe, and America is one of the countries craving to launch their satellites using Indian PSLV and GSLV. America’s behavior about it, however, has been contradictory and this owes to the policy which restricts them to collaborate with India.
According to Ajey Lele, a senior fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, India offers the rocket scientists at cheaper rates (considerably cheaper than American ompanies like SpaceX) and this makes Indian space market desirable for all.
After the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008, the relations between the two companies were improved significantly, but US companies still hesitate to collaborate with ISRO.