India's space agency on Monday successfully launched its heaviest rocket carrying a communication satellite from the launch pad off the country's southeastern coast. Picture by Associated Press

India has successfully launched its heaviest-ever rocket – a spacecraft it hopes will eventually be able to carry astronauts.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III rocket lifted off from the country's space launch centre in Sriharikota, an island off the coast of south-east Andhra Pradesh state, and placed a communications satellite into orbit.

Space agency director AS Kiran Kumar said it is the heaviest rocket and satellite to be launched from India. The rocket is powered by an indigenous engine that uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as fuel, he said.

In the past, India has used French rockets to launch its heavier communication satellites.

Indian space scientists worked "relentlessly for decades and for this project since 2002 to successfully put the satellite into orbit", Mr Kumar said, adding: "This is a historic day for ISRO."

India hopes the launch of the satellite, which weighs 3,136kg, will expand its commercial launch business.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists on Twitter.

"The GSLV - MKIII D1/GSAT-19 mission takes India closer to the next generation launch vehicle and satellite capability. The nation is proud!" Mr Modi tweeted.

The launch is the latest in a string of successes for the Indian space agency. In February, it launched a record-breaking 104 nano satellites into orbit, all on board a single rocket.

In November 2013, India launched a space probe that has been orbiting Mars since September 2014.

Launching humans into space is a feat that so far only Russia, the United States and China have achieved.