Trilegal and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) advised on Pixxel-led ₹1,200 crore+ EO-PPP satellite constellation project with IN-SPACe.

A consortium led by Pixxel, along with SatSure, PierSight, and Dhruva Space, will design, build, and operate India’s first fully indigenous commercial Earth Observation satellite constellation under the Public-Private Partnership (EO-PPP) model with the Indian Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe).

The consortium will deploy a constellation of 12 earth observation satellites over the next five years, at an estimated project cost of over INR 1,200 crore (approximately USD 130 million). The constellation will integrate high-resolution optical, multispectral, hyperspectral, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payloads, supported by a comprehensive ground infrastructure network. The project will provide satellite imagery, value-added services, and analytics to commercial, government, and strategic customers in India.

This deal is the first-of-its-kind PPP project as it entails private parties partnering with IN-SPACe to build satellites and establish/hire the ground segment for both spacecraft control and data download / dissemination. The project involves complex satellite technology and does not have a precedent in the Indian industry.

Trilegal advised Pixxel on its successful bid to design, build, and operate the satellite constellation under the EO-PPP framework.

The Trilegal Corporate team was led by Partner Abhishek Dubey, with support from Senior Associate Ishita Sinha and Associates Sagnik Sarkar and Aditya Kaushik.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. Acted as legal advisor to IIFCL Projects Ltd., the transaction adviser to IN-SPACe, Department of Space, Government of India, on the project.

The SAM team was led by Partner Neelakantan V R and Partner Ankita Kumar, with Principal Associate Aditya Mitra, Senior Associate Rudra Shankar, and Associate Tanya Srivastava.