India planning building habitats on the moon

In 2013-2014, India was able to successfully complete the Mangalyaan Mars orbiter mission for a total of $74 million. This was almost ten times cheaper than a $671 million NASA Mars orbiter mission (Maven).

India is now looking at building habitats on the moon.

Ways India saved on the Mars mission costs

* The scientists and engineers in India have far lower salaries.
* lower cost domestic components were used
* the mission was kept simple and low weight. The mission payload was only 15 kilograms.