Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the Indian space start-up Skyroot's Infinity Campus in Hyderabad on Thursday through video conferencing, marking an important moment for the country’s growing private space sector.

PM Modi also unveiled Skyroot's first orbital rocket, Vikram I, to send satellites into orbit. The modern facility will offer about 200,000 square feet of workspace where teams can design, develop, integrate and test multiple launch vehicles with the capacity to create one orbital rocket every month.

Skyroot is India’s leading private space company, founded by Pawan Chandana and Bharath Dhaka, who studied at the Indian Institutes of Technology and earlier worked as ISRO scientists before becoming entrepreneurs. In November 2022, Skyroot launched its suborbital rocket Vikram S and became the first Indian private company to send a rocket to space.

This development is being seen as a step that will help India strengthen its presence as a global space power.

Earlier on Wednesday, PM Modi virtually inaugurated Safran Aircraft Engine Services' new Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility in Hyderabad, which showed how fast India’s aviation sector is growing.

PM Modi said that India is dreaming big, doing bigger and delivering the best as he encouraged investors to join India as co-creators in the journey towards a developed nation.

The Prime Minister said that the upcoming Safran's largest Indian Engine Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility at the GMR Aerospace and Industrial Park would help India build its strength as a global MRO hub.

PM Modi said the facility marked an important step in India’s effort to bring high-value aviation services to the country and will "create opportunities for the youths in the world of high-tech space."

"In the past few years, India's aviation sector has advanced at an unprecedented pace. Today, India is among the fastest-growing domestic aviation markets in the world. Our domestic market is now the third-largest globally. The aspirations of the people of India are reaching the skies," PM Modi said.

PM Modi said that India had relied on overseas facilities for many years, with "85 per cent MRO work done on foreign land," which caused higher costs and longer grounding time for aircraft. He said the government was now working to change this.

"India's youth puts the nation's interests first. They utilise every opportunity wisely. When the government opened the space sector, the country's youth, especially our Gen Z, leapt forward to take full advantage of it. Today, India's more than 300 space start-ups are giving new hope to India's space future," he said while virtually inaugurating the Indian space start-up Skyroot's Infinity Campus in Hyderabad.

"Today, Gen Z engineers, Gen Z designers, Gen Z coders, and Gen Z scientists are creating new technologies, whether in propulsion systems, composite materials, rocket stages, or satellite platforms. India's youth are working in fields that were unimaginable just a few years ago. India's private space talent is making its mark globally. India's space sector is becoming an attractive destination for global investors," he added.

The focus on Gen Z comes at a time when Nepal has seen a youth-led uprising which brought down the government.