A casual rant about the land crunch in Bengaluru by a space-tech company founder ignited a fresh investment war between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Pixxel founder Kshitij Khandelwal took to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to share his struggle in finding land for setting up a satellite factory in the outskirts of Bengaluru. Khandelwal compared the challenge to making satellites.
“Trying to get land for making a satellite factory in the outskirts of BLR has been way more difficult than actually making said satellites,” Khandelwal wrote in a post on X.
trying to get land for making a satellite factory in the outskirts of BLR has been way more difficult than actually making said satellites
— Kshitij Khandelwal (@kshitijgokul) June 17, 2026
Khandelwal’s post reflected the challenges many growing companies face when trying to expand production facilities.
In less than an hour, MB Patil, Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development replied to the post and assured that his office will get in touch with Khandelwal.
Andhra Pradesh IT and Industries Minister Nara Lokesh, however, took it as an opportunity to promote a new “investor-friendly” destination – Anantapur.
“Kshitij, there’s a new investor-friendly destination on the outskirts of Bengaluru. It’s called Anantapur,” Lokesh wrote, inviting Pixxel to consider Andhra Pradesh for future expansion. He added a wink emoticon at the end.
“We’re building Space Cities, aerospace parks and ready-to-go industrial ecosystems so founders can spend their time building satellites instead of hunting for land,” he added, asking Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board to connect with the startup founder.
Pointing at the fast-paced growth, Lokesh also used a hashtag #ChooseSpeedChooseAP.
“Thank you for taking notice sir! Have to respect the speed with which the AP govt is doing things. AP EDB has also just reached out and we’re excited to explore Anantapur Space City!”
Khandelwal acknowledged the invitation and expressed respect for the “speed at which the Andhra Pradesh government is doing things” and excitement to explore the Anantapur Space City.
Thank you for taking notice sir! Have to respect the speed with which the AP govt is doing things. AP EDB has also just reached out and we’re excited to explore Anantapur Space City! 🤞🏻
— Kshitij Khandelwal (@kshitijgokul) June 17, 2026
Andhra Pradesh has adopted an increasingly competitive approach to attracting investments and has, in recent years, successfully drawn high-tech industries in sectors such as aerospace, electronics and space technology, often competing with neighbouring states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Replying to one of the X users, Khandelwal also explained his reasons behind the desire to open a factory in Bengaluru.
“Higher hardware engineering talent density; URSC; the local supplier ecosystem; social infrastructure (schools, transport, safety) for families of your team members if you want someone to leave a job in Europe/US and move to India to work with you,” he wrote.
Higher hardware engineering talent density; URSC; the local supplier ecosystem; social infrastructure (schools, transport, safety) for families of your team members if you want someone to leave a job in Europe/US and move to India to work with you.
— Kshitij Khandelwal (@kshitijgokul) June 17, 2026
Founded in February 2019, Pixxel’s vision is to make in-space resources accessible and help build a more resilient Earth. The startup builds hyperspectral imaging satellites that help monitor agriculture, climate change, natural resources, and environmental conditions from space.
