It is true that the cost may well be less than sending a check to some American farmers to ship over rice, because the monies circulate locally.

But ultimately that money could have built a big dam, or a few beautiful bridges, or a small power plant in a country with lots of power outages.

I personally think it is money well spent, because it heralds the arrival of India to the world of first class satellite launching, by doing something Russia failed at the first few attempts. But that payoff is over the long term.