India spends more per kilogram to place payloads in orbit than other leading space nations, challenging its image as a low-cost launcher, according to a peer-reviewed study of over six decades of launches in Economics Letters. Researchers Alessio Terzi and Francesco Nicoli calculated that Indian rockets cost $13,302 per kilogram to low-Earth orbit in 2025. This exceeds Europe at $9,897, Russia at $6,682, China at $5,809, Japan at $5,287, and the United States at $3,225, against a global average of $3,868. The higher expense stems from India’s focus on smaller rockets, spreading fixed costs over limited payload. Only the United States and Europe show clear cost reductions from growing launch experience since 2010. India launches too infrequently to achieve similar savings.
