The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has earned $279 million in foreign exchange through its commercial arm launching satellites for customers worldwide, Union Minister Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

In written responses to questions, Singh said ISRO, in collaboration with its commercial sector, had successfully launched 345 foreign satellites from 34 countries on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

“The total foreign exchange earnings from the launch of foreign satellites amounted to $56 million (1 million = 10 lakhs) and about €220 million,” Singh said, without mentioning any time frame for such launches. At current exchange rates, €220 million is equivalent to $223 million.

The latest PSLV mission was on June 30, when ISRO’s Warhorse launch vehicle put three Singapore satellites into orbit.

ISRO’s PSLV-C53 mission successfully launched three Singapore customer satellites, DS-EO, NeuSAR and SCOOB-1.
Singh said PSLV-C53 is the second dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a central public sector enterprise under the executive control of the Department of Space (DOS).