US court asks Antrix to pay $1.2 billion compensation to Bengaluru startup

Mumbai: Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), has been directed to pay $1.2 billion to Bengaluru-based Devas Multimedia as compensation for cancelling a satellite deal.

A US court on Wednesday upheld a 2015 verdict of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce in this regard. The payout includes $562.5 million in compensation and related interest charges, taking the total damages to $1.2 billion.

The company will appeal the verdict in the US court, an Antrix official, who did not wish to be named, said. The US District Court, Western District of Washington, said that Antrix could file its appeal by November 3.


In 2005, Antrix signed a deal with Devas to build two communication satellites, which were to use the S-band spectrum and offer hybrid satellite and terrestrial communication services throughout India.

Early in 2011, some media reports alleged that Antrix had offered the S-band at a throwaway cost, and that a few senior officials in the company as well as in Isro had benefited monetarily from it.

The deal soon became engulfed in a political storm. Subsequently, a panel led by senior aerospace scientist Roddam Narsimha found only procedural lapses in the deal and no evidence of corruption.

In 2012, the then UPA government cancelled the satellite order citing national security issues. Following this, Devas went to the international tribunal claiming damages of $1.6 billion for scrapping the deal. Devas also subsequently appealed in the US federal court saying its investors as well as senior executives were US nationals.

Deutsche Telekom had invested $75 million in Devas, whose other investors include Columbia Capital and Telecom Ventures.

Devas is separately fighting charges of corruption by the CBI and money laundering by the Enforcement Directorate.

The ED in 2017 attached nearly ₹80 crore worth assets of Devas under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for the alleged illegal deal with Antrix.