A research paper by economists from the University of Cambridge and Italy’s Politecnico di Torino has found that India’s cost of sending payloads to low Earth orbit (LEO) is the highest among major spacefaring regions when measured per kilogram.
The study analysed data from more than 6,740 rocket launches carried out between 1960 and 2025. For 2025, it estimated the global average cost at Rs 3.71 lakh per kg to reach LEO.
By comparison, the report put the 2025 per‑kg cost at Rs 3.10 lakh in the United States, Rs 5.08 lakh in Japan, Rs 5.58 lakh in China, Rs 6.41 lakh in Russia and Rs 9.50 lakh in Europe. India’s figure was estimated at Rs 12.77 lakh per kg.
The authors noted that this may appear at odds with the widely held view of India’s space programme as highly cost‑efficient. They attributed the higher per‑kg cost mainly to Indian rockets typically carrying smaller payloads, which spreads fixed launch costs over fewer kilograms.
The study also pointed to factors behind lower per‑kg costs in the United States, including reusable rockets and the ability to distribute fixed infrastructure costs across a larger number of launches.
