How the South Asia Satellite will help India boost ties with neighbours

Satellite has been developed in three years after Modi announced it as a gift for neighbours

The launch on May 5, of GSAT-09, a communication satellite developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), will bring India closer to its neighbours Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. 

The satellite, which weighs 2,230 kg and took almost three years to build, would boost services such as telecommunication, direct-to-home, telemedicine, tele-education and other supporting systems in these countries.

The satellite is also expected to help support their water conservation initiatives, by providing data, forecasting weather and sending alerts on natural disasters.

In June 2014, shortly after he took over as Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi asked