Yeah, the main issue that Apollo had to deal with was weight. They not only had to have enough fuel to lift the payload, but enough fuel to lift that fuel, repeat several times. It's why the Rocket Equation is the devil in the details of exploring the solar system, and why any possible reactionless drive is such a huge thing.

The Agni V does not have to deal with all of that, and so has some massive advantages in terms of payload weight, takeoff/landing methodology, and loiter time (more life support mass available). Of course, it has the major limitation that it's entirely dependent on the availability of the Avatar to provide its main thrust.