Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s communication satellite GSAT-9 on-board GSLV-F09 lifts off from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has termed the satellite as India's “space gift for South Asia”. Pic/PTI

India successfully launched, in copy book style, the South Asia Satellite, intended to serve "economic and developmental priorities" of South Asian nations, using its heavy rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F09).

Precisely at 4.57 p.m., the GSLV-F09 rose into the sky from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh, carrying the satellite, intended as an Indian Gift for its fellow Saarc nations except for Pakistan which had opted out.