 "After Devas, ISRO faces crisis of confidence")
For Antrix Corp, the marketing arm of India's Space Research Organisation, the stakes are high in its ongoing fight with US-based strategic consultancy Force Advisors's India arm, Devas Multimedia.
After an international tribunal earlier this month found Antrix liable for unlawfully terminating an agreement with Devas in 2011, the battleground is set to shift to India with Antrix gearing up to challenge the decision in Indian courts.
However, a less than favourable ruling will not only deal a body blow to Antrix's net worth but also hurt its dreams to commercially exploit space technologies that it had set out to when it was founded in 1992.
Already, the confidence among its scientists to engage customers and sign contracts has taken a beating. They are being doubly cautious to the point of being indecisive when it comes to taking calls on deals, says a scientist working with Antrix on the condition of anonymity.
"We now look for all approvals before we begin work on a project. Earlier, the work on projects would start even as the paperwork was still under way," he says. "Now everyone is cautious."
The controversy has come at a time when Antrix had a real chance to make a big impact in the global space technologies market. Over 2,000 satellites - small and big-are to be launched over the next five years globally. Now, because of the slow-decision making process and uncertainty over policies, Antrix's chances to be a serious contender for a majority of those deals could be hit.
In addition, Antrix has a huge backlog to execute within the country itself. A number of satellites are waiting to be launched in the areas of earth observation, navigation and communication and television broadcast.
The cost of launching a satellite in India is about 30 per cent cheaper than elsewhere in the world, said a study in 2007 by U Sankar, a professor at the Madras School of Economics. The cost advantage holds true even today despite the emergence of a host of private rocket companies, especially in the US.
The Antrix-Devas controversy has also cast a shadow on ISRO's plans to build future capabilities. Work on several key projects, including the one to engage a consortium of private companies to build rockets and satellites and then launch them using ISRO's own vehicle, has also slowed. This is because scientists are now afraid to sign deals with private players in the absence of clear-cut government policy, say ISRO officials.
"The Devas controversy has hit us just when we were becoming more open to private participation. Now everything has slowed. By now, we should have had Indian companies building satellites and launching rockets," says another scientist who too does not want to be named.
Scientists are particularly wary of the treatment that was meted out to former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair in the wake of the Antrix-Devas controversy. Nair was barred from being appointed to any government post after an inquiry found him guilty of lapse in signing the deal with Devas. ISRO under Nair had signed the deal in 2005 to lease out 90 per cent of the capacity of two satellites for 12 years in return for a payment of $300 million over 12 years. Nair was absolved of all charges last year.
However, the agreement was terminated in 2011 after the government thought the satellites were leased to Devas at throwaway prices. Experts now contend the deal went haywire because of the problems associated with the sale of 2G spectrum.
Nair says, "It is a very sad story. Have you heard of getting punished for a nonexistent crime and dealt without following any procedures? It is bound to hurt people's confidence." After the international tribunal verdict, Nair has sought an independent investigation into the reasons why the Devas contract was cancelled arbitrarily.
Many believe a crisis of such proportions could have been easily avoided if contracts were vetted by legal experts, instead of scientists signing them in good faith."Scientists are good at technology, you can't expect them to understand law and sign contracts. For the last 15 years, ISRO did not have an internal legal department," says V Balakista Reddy, head (centre for air and space law) at the Nalsar University of Law in Hyderabad.
"Cancelling the contract was a foolish idea. It defies logic that a few people who are uninformed and with people with vested interest created an impression it is a scam and blaming four or five scientists for this," says Ajey Lele, assistant director at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.
