Modi’s ‘Make in India’ falters as navic satellites fail

NEW DELHI: India’s much-hyped indigenous navigation system NaVIC has suffered major setbacks, with over half of its satellites now completely non-functional, exposing serious flaws in the country’s space technology planning under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

Since 2013, India has launched nine NaVIC satellites, but official records now confirm that five have failed entirely.

According to a recent Right to Information response, only two satellites still have working rubidium clocks, the critical component needed for navigation accuracy, while the rest have suffered complete clock failure.

The failure highlights India’s heavy dependence on imported components and delays in producing indigenous rubidium clocks, despite Modi’s repeated promotion of the “Make in India” slogan.

In January 2025, the NVS-02 satellite also failed to enter its designated orbit, further weakening the system. Officials from the Space Applications Centre, including Director Nilesh Desai, have admitted that local rubidium clock production is still under development and facing obstacles.

NaVIC, which was envisioned as India’s answer to the US GPS system, remains restricted to India and only 1,500 kilometers beyond its borders, and even there, citizens receive less accurate positioning services due to the failing satellite network.

With its navigation backbone collapsing, critics say India’s space ambitions are increasingly seen as hollow, unreliable, and poorly executed experiments. — NNI