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How many satellites does India have?

As of October 17, 2026, India owns 78 active satellites, 0.5% of the world's 17,101 and the 10th most of any country. The biggest single group is GSAT, with 17 satellites (22% of the total).

Active satellites

0.5%

Of the world total

10th

Rank among countries

Launches in 2025

Engineers using a crane to lift the yellow-wrapped radar payload of the NISAR satellite in a clean room — Engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Indian Space Research Organisation align the radar payload for the NISAR satellite in a clean room in Bengaluru, India, in June 2023. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

What they do

Earth imaging accounts for 28 of India's active satellites (36%).

Earth imaging28 (35.9%)
Communications20 (25.6%)
Technology demonstration9 (11.5%)
Navigation8 (10.3%)
Weather3 (3.8%)
AST3 (3.8%)

Where they orbit

Geosynchronous orbit33 (42.3%)
Lower low Earth orbit (80 to 600 km)26 (33.3%)
Upper low Earth orbit (600 to 2,000 km)16 (20.5%)
CLO2 (2.6%)
Not assigned1 (1.3%)

Who operates them

The largest operators, and the largest families of satellites, owned by India.

By operator

ISRO54 (69.2%)
Pixxel6 (7.7%)
New Space India2 (2.6%)
Dhruva Space2 (2.6%)
IITK1 (1.3%)
SRM Uni.1 (1.3%)

By satellite family

GSAT17 (21.8%)
Cartosat7 (9.0%)
IRNSS7 (9.0%)
Firefly6 (7.7%)
EOS5 (6.4%)

Operator names are as written in GCAT, usually transliterated from the original language. Families group satellites by the first word of their name.

How the fleet has grown

At the end of 2005, India had 31 payloads in Earth orbit. By the end of 2025 it had 113.

Payloads owned by India in Earth orbit at the end of each year, working or not.

Launches

India has made 103 orbital launch attempts since its first in 1979, and 5 of them in 2025. Its busiest year was 2016 with 7.

Orbital launch attempts by India each year. 2026 is partial, through October 16.

Sources and method

GCAT by Jonathan McDowell, CC BY 4.0. Updated October 17, 2026. Data from GCAT (J. McDowell, planet4589.org/space/gcat).
Active means GCAT lists the satellite as working or possibly still transmitting, a status GCAT says is often a guess. Ownership is by the owner's country, not the launch country.