Open Access Research Article

INDIA’S PRIVATE SPACE SECTOR: NAVIGATING THE INSOLVENCY AND LIABILITY VACUUM

Author(s):
RIYA ARYA SHUBH GAURAV SAMRAGYEE ROY
Journal IJLRA
ISSN 2582-6433
Access Open Access
Volume 3
Issue 7
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Abstract

Abstract
India’s space economy has moved, within six years, from a State monopoly to a commercially contested market. The 2020 reforms, the Indian Space Policy 2023, the IN-SPACe Norms, Guidelines and Procedures of 2024 and the liberalised foreign direct investment regime of 2024 have enabled firms such as Skyroot Aerospace and Agnikul Cosmos to design, build and fly their own vehicles, culminating in the first private Indian orbital launch in July 2026. Yet the legal scaffolding beneath this market remains executive rather than statutory, and it has not been tested by commercial failure. This paper asks how India’s forthcoming Space Activities Act should respond to three commercial realities that the present framework either ignores or handles inadequately: the insolvency and liquidation of a private space operator; the ownership and enforcement of intellectual property created or used in orbit; and judicial review of decisions by IN-SPACe refusing, suspending or revoking authorisation. Drawing on doctrinal analysis of Indian constitutional, insolvency, intellectual property and administrative law, and on comparative study of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Japan, the paper argues that each issue is at root a manifestation of a single ‘liability vacuum’: the gap between India’s unlimited and temporally unbounded responsibility as a launching State under international law, and the limited, time-bound and frequently insolvent private actors who generate that responsibility. It proposes an integrated statutory design comprising (i) a dedicated space-asset chapter that coordinates the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 with orbital stewardship obligations; (ii) a tiered, insurance-backed liability regime with a sovereign backstop and ring-fenced decommissioning security; (iii) a quasi-territorial extension of Indian patent law to Indian-registered space objects, with private ownership as the default rule; and (iv) a reasoned-decision and specialist appellate mechanism for authorisation disputes that preserves constitutional review.

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Authors: RIYA ARYA, SHUBH GAURAV & SAMRAGYEE ROY
Registration ID: 1013243 | Published Paper ID: IJLRA13243, IJLRA13244 & IJLRA13245
Year: Oct-2026 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 7
Approved ISSN: 2582-6433 | Country: Delhi, India
Page No.: 18-41

Article Information

INDIA’S PRIVATE SPACE SECTOR: NAVIGATING THE INSOLVENCY AND LIABILITY VACUUM

Authors: RIYA ARYA, SHUBH GAURAV, SAMRAGYEE ROY

  • Journal IJLRA
  • ISSN 2582-6433
  • Volume 3
  • Issue 7
Citation Download Paper Full Details Search on Google Search on Google Scholar

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International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis

  • AbbreviationIJLRA
  • ISSN2582-6433
  • AccessOpen Access
  • LicenseCC 4.0

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