Except that the cost wasn’t lowered because of the labour. It has everything to do with how well-optimised the rocket launch was. And by well-optimised, I’m talking about extremely optimised launch.

The launch location was the most important factor here - SDSC (Satish Dhawan Space Centre), Sriharikota. This particular region allows a rocket to be launched in the eastern direction, taking advantage of the Earth’s rotation.

Sriharikota is also located closer to the equator, making it easier to break out into the space thanks to the extra centripetal force. Neither does the USA, China or Russia have that advantage. African nations in the future may have a lot of advantage, especially countries in the eastern coast like Egypt, Somalia and Ethiopia.

Another reason for the low cost was that the organisation had lots of experience sending launch vehicles to the outer space.

Some parts had to be outsourced from international companies, which may also add to making this mission not being cost-effective. By just saying that the wage of scientist was x times less, you’re invalidating the efforts of ISRO scientists in low-cost material research.