For a very long time, the only plant that could supply alloys for Indian space rockets was the Bhilai Steel Plant. Private companies simply did not bother to innovate.
Later, when India started launching more rockets and the missile programme took off, the demand for such alloys increased, and now, L&T also supplies such alloys. Why did L&T agree to supply these alloys now? Because, the volume of orders, or demand, has gone up enough to make economic sense for L&T. Had it been otherwise, they would not have bothered with innovating.
@ezsasa has a point. Private companies are primarily motivated by making profits. They'd rather sell a poorly manufactured product for higher profit than a well engineered product for less profit.
This is the harsh reality of economics.
Look at how Maruti 800 took market share from Ambassador, when, Maruti 800 was inferior to the Ambassador in every single way.
One more example, but this time from the US. VolksWagen always made cars with good interiors. Then, 3 years back, they launched the Jetta, which had interiors made of cheap plastics and was far below the usual VolksWagen standards, and soon, their market share increased. Even BMW, that once boasted about the superiority of AWD, was forced to introduce inferior front 2 wheel drive vehicles, just to retain market share.
These are examples where private companies, thanks to economic realities, have done exactly the opposite of innovation. Private companies are always motivated by profit.