The Day Hyderabad Got Its Own Rocket Factory

There are startup milestones… and then there are Hyderabad just got a rocket factory milestones.

On 27 November 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated Skyroot Aerospace’s Infinity Campus in Hyderabad and unveiled Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed commercial orbital rocket.

For a city that has already produced success stories in SaaS, gaming, fintech and healthtech, this moment quietly flipped a new switch:

Hyderabad isn’t just writing code anymore.
It’s building rockets.

Infinity Campus: 2 Lakh Sq. Ft of “Built in Hyderabad”

Skyroot’s Infinity Campus is a 200,000 sq. ft, state-of-the-art rocket factory designed to build, integrate and test multiple launch vehicles under one roof.

What’s inside this space-age campus?

• Scale: One of India’s largest private rocket factories, with the capacity to build one orbital rocket every month

• Purpose-built for:

  • Design & systems engineering
  • Carbon-composite stage manufacturing
  • Integration and testing of Vikram-series rockets

• Role in India’s plans: Supports the national ambition of dozens of launches per year by 2030, with private players doing a big share of the heavy lifting

The campus sits in Hyderabad’s growing deep-tech belt, turning the city into Skyroot’s full-stack hub for R&D + manufacturing + testing.

If T-Hub, T-Works and CIE helped birth space-tech startups from co-working desks and labs, Infinity Campus is where those dreams get bolted, wired and rolled out to the launchpad.

Meet Vikram-1: India’s First Private Orbital Rocket

If Infinity Campus is the factory, Vikram-1 is the flagship product rolling off its floors.

Unveiled by PM Modi during the inauguration, Vikram-1 is India’s first privately built commercial orbital rocket, fully designed and manufactured in the country.

Vikram-1 at a glance

• Type: Small-lift orbital class launch vehicle

• Payload:

  • Up to 480 kg to a 500 km low Earth orbit (LEO, low inclination)
  • Around 290 kg to a 500 km Sun-synchronous polar orbit (SSPO)

• Architecture:

  • Solid-propellant lower stages
  • A liquid-propelled upper stage for precise orbital insertion

• Tech highlights:

  • Carbon-fibre structure for lighter, high-performance stages
  • Kalam-1200, one of India’s largest privately built rocket stages
  • Advanced 3D-printed engines and low-shock separation systems

Skyroot is targeting Vikram-1’s maiden launch by early 2026, aiming to carry multiple small satellites to orbit and kick off a cadence of frequent, commercial launches.

When that rocket flies, there’s one line you can’t ignore:

“Designed and built in Hyderabad.”

From Kondapur Cubicles to India’s Most Ambitious Space Startup

Long before Infinity Campus, there was… a small office and a big leap of faith.

• Founded: 2018

• Founders: Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, ex-ISRO engineers and IIT alumni

• Origin: Started up in Hyderabad’s ecosystem, leaning on local enablers like T-Hub, CIE and the Telangana innovation network

• Breakout moment: Vikram-S (Mission Prarambh) — India’s first privately built rocket to reach space, launched in November 2022

Today, Skyroot is:

• Among India’s most well-funded private space startups, backed by marquee Indian and global investors

• Employing a rapidly growing team across engineering, manufacturing and operations

• Building a pipeline of carbon-composite rockets and 3D-printed engines, with a goal of regular, repeatable commercial launches over the next few years

Why Infinity Campus Is a Big Deal for Hyderabad’s Startup Ecosystem

Looking at Skyroot purely as “space-tech news” is one thing.
Looking at it as Hyderabad’s startup story is another.

Here’s why Infinity Campus matters far beyond aerospace:

1. Deep-Tech Manufacturing, Not Just Software

Infinity Campus proves that Hyderabad can host highly specialised, capital-intensive manufacturing:

• Carbon-composite rocket stages

• 3D-printed engines

• Precision avionics

• Integrated launch vehicles

This opens doors for ancillary startups in materials, sensors, testing, embedded systems and industrial automation.

2. Talent + Policy + Capital = Global Play

Skyroot sits at the intersection of:

• ISRO-trained talent

• Progressive space policy and reforms that opened the sector to private players

• Global capital betting on India’s space ambitions

That formula can be replicated in defence-tech, climate-tech, robotics, semiconductors and more — all from Hyderabad.

3. A New Value Chain Around Space

A rocket factory is not just about rockets.

It pulls in:

• Satellite makers

• Earth-observation and analytics startups

• Ground-station and communication players

• SaaS companies building mission control, telemetry and ops tools

• Simulation, testing and digital-twin platforms

Expect second-order startups to emerge around Skyroot, much like how big consumer-tech players once spawned entire ecosystems around them.

4. Brand Hyderabad, Now in Orbit

Swiggy put Bengaluru on the food-tech map.
Zomato put Gurugram on the global dining grid.

Skyroot does that for Hyderabad + space-tech.

Every time Vikram-1 flies, and every time an international outlet says “Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace…”, it nudges investors, engineers and founders to look at this city differently.

What Founders in Hyderabad Can Learn from Skyroot

In classic StartupHyderabad style, here are a few entrepreneurial takeaways from Skyroot’s journey so far:

1. Chase hard problems, not just hot trends
   Space launch is literally rocket science. But that also means high barriers, deep moats and global markets.

2. Leverage your ecosystem ruthlessly
   From ISRO experience to Hyderabad’s innovation hubs and Telangana’s policies, Skyroot has used every advantage well.

3. Invest early in infrastructure, not just MVPs
   Infinity Campus is a bold move — a sign that they’re building a launch business, not just a one-off rocket.

4. Tell a big, global story from Day 1
   Vikram-1 isn’t only for Indian payloads. Skyroot is clearly eyeing global small-satellite customers and competing with international launch providers.

5. Stay mission-driven, not vanity-driven
   The company could have stopped at being “first private rocket to reach space.” Instead, it’s doubling down on reliable, repeatable commercial launches.

Watch: Front Page by AIM Breaks Down the Big Moment

To go deeper into Skyroot’s Infinity Campus and Vikram-1, check out this episode of Front Page by Analytics India Magazine, which explores:

• How Infinity Campus is designed

• What makes Vikram-1 unique

• How Skyroot wants to get to high launch cadence over the next few years

Closing: Hyderabad, Say Hello to Your Space Age

From Kondapur cubicles to a 2 lakh sq. ft rocket campus and an orbital rocket ready to fly, Skyroot’s story feels very familiar to this city — just operating at escape velocity.

Hyderabad has already shown it can build world-class products in coupons, gaming, adtech, SaaS and fintech.

Now, it’s building something else:

A launchpad. For satellites. For founders. For India’s private space race.