Mainstream WeeklyDuring mid June, two incidents in Indian Space came to limelight, 120 top level scientists quit the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), while a private firm Skyroot, has successfully placed Vikram- 1 carrying small-payload satellites in orbit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately congratulated Skyroot, saying the effort breaks the monopoly of the public sector and promotes the nation’s self-reliance. Resignation or voluntary retirement requests from Group ’A’ level scientific and technical personnel linked to Gaganyaan- India’s prestigious human spaceflight programme and other "important missions are of great concern.
There should not be any objection in a mixed economy if a private firm makes inroads into the space sector. But unlike in the USA and France, the booming young private startups with no research and training capabilities of their own are thriving at the expense of decades-old experience, research borrowed from public sector organisations like ISSRO.
Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the Father of the Indian Space Program, established ISRO in 1969. He successfully convinced the Indian government that a dedicated space program was essential for the development and communication needs of the country. A renowned physicist and institution builder (also established National Physical Laboratory and IIMA, Ahmedabad), Sarabhai championed the practical application of space technology—such as satellite broadcasting for education, weather forecast and remote sensing—to solve real-world problems. His groundwork enabled India to launch its first rocket from Thumba in 1963 and paved the way for India’s first satellite, Aryabhata. There are 5 prominent centres of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) located across India: Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR (Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh; provides satellite launch facilities), Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) (Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala; lead centre responsible for the design, development, and construction of launch vehicle technology), U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) (Bengaluru, Karnataka; for building satellites and developing associated communication, navigation, and remote sensing technologies), National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) (Hyderabad, Telangana), Space Applications Centre (SAC) (Ahmedabad, Gujarat; Focuing on the development of payloads, sensors, and communication systems used in ISRO’s satellite missions.
Today, ISRO provides crucial national infrastructure by delivering space-based services that include Telecommunications, broadcasting, satellites, earth observation, disaster management, and regional navigation. A large fleet of INSAT and GSAT provides television services, SPECTRUM for mobile phone communication, disaster management, remote sensing for exploring groundwater and mineral resources, specialised health care access to remote and high-altitude regions, apart from satellite intelligence for border security and several other tasks. ISRO’s journey is defined by budget-conscious engineering and audacious milestones. Key achievements include the historic Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) making India the first nation to reach Martian orbit, Gaganyaan- for sending man to space, Chandrayaan-3- accomplishing the first-ever soft landing on the Moon’s rugged South Pole, Aditya -L1 sun mission, SpaDex 2025, for autonomous docking, undocking, and power transfer between two orbiting spacecraft. This critical milestone paves the way for future ambitious building of our own international space station and our man on the moon missions. In recent years, the Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) set a world record by flawlessly deploying 104 satellites in a single mission. Of late, ISRO started earning huge revenues by launching satellites for many nations, including Australia, the UK, USA, South Asian and African nations.
Why They Quit
In 2025, 14,637 scientists and engineers are employed against the sanctioned strength of 18,432. Of them, 8,700 are top-level A category scientists who excelled in space research and worked hard to make ISRO a jewel in nation building. During the last two years, the exodus of top-level scientists from ISRO has picked up.
Some of the scientists who had quit are said to have joined space startups, which successfully took off since the Centre opened the space sector for private players in 2020 and launched the Indian Space Policy in 2023. On July 14th, the government issued a directive to ISRO not to accept any further resignations of scientists. Among those who left was senior scientist Victor Joseph T, who was serving as the project director of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III Project at the Vikram Sarabhai Centre. Most departures were reportedly seen at the URSC in Bengaluru and the VSSC in Thiruvananthapuram.
In 2023, the Narendra Modi government launched Indian Space Policy 2023 and opened doors for private space startups. Till recently, Dhruv and SkyRoot were the only startups, but today there are nearly 400 of them with an investment worth $500 million and mostly located in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai. The government even permitted the private sector to avail ISRO’s infrastructure and use of launch pad facilities at nominal charges. To support the booming private space sector, the government even allocated Rs 1,00 crore support fund and a Rs 500 crore technology adoption fund. Efficient design and a series of successful missions at very economic budgets have promoted ISRO’s commercial prospects internationally. For the last 5 years, ISRO has started attracting FDIs and successfully launching various commercial satellites to both developing and developed nations.
Increased Revenues
Currently, ISRO’s commercial operations, including satellite launching, earn an annual revenue of Rs 86,000 (9 bln $) thousand crores and are expected to grow 4-fold to reach 3.86 lakh crores (40 billion $) by 2035 and 100 billion $ by 2040. This huge revenue has naturally attracted the establishment of hundreds of startups in the private sector. Early this week, Vikram-1 was successfully launched, developed by Skyroot Aerospace, India’s first privately developed orbital launch vehicle, capable of placing 350 kg into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). It is built with an all-carbon composite structure, reliable solid-fuel boosters and a 3D-printed liquid engine; Vikram-1 showcases India’s growing private-sector launch capabilities. Vikram- 1, launched from ISRO’s Srihari Kota Facility, carried multiple payload satellites at very economic charges. This could potentially become a huge revenue earner for the private space sector from foreign nations. Interestingly, SkyRoot and several other startups are freshers, having only started a few years back. They lack their own research in design, manufacture, design navigation software, launch and other technology apart from rocket launching and other infrastructure facilities. They almost freely avail facilities of ISRO. Besides, they are attracting Level A category top scientists and engineers to design, develop and execute these missions. There should be no objection if private startups develop at least a significant part of man power, technical know-how in executing their space missions. But they are totally dependent on ISSRO and the government’s Indian School of Space Research (Bangaluru) for their manpower needs. This reminds one of Ambani-owned Reliance Petroleum industry, how it grew by attracting talent from the public sector ONGC in the early 1980’s and 90’s. Private startups are attracting scientists with big paychecks, even running up to three to 4 times of later’s current pay.
Stem the exodus
Besides resignations, of late ISRO has also started facing significant setbacks recently. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), ISRO’s "workhorse", suffered two consecutive failures within one year. In May last year, the PSLV-C61/EOS-09 (RISAT-1B) had failed to reach its 529-km sun-synchronous orbit after a sudden chamber-pressure drop and destroyed the radar facility. There are prestigious upcoming projects like Gaganyaan, Moon Man mission, Aditya L1, the sun mission, and construction of the International Space Station, apart from commercial satellite launches to other nations. Last year, ISRO had advertised for recruitment of nearly a thousand scientific positions on its website. But government pay scales are no way nearer to private sector offered salaries and benefits. It is also becoming difficult to attract Class XII students to the Indian Space Institute, as meritorious students are increasingly opting for Computer Science, Machine Learning, and other AI courses.
ISRO had performance-based monetary rewards and promotion systems to encourage scientific talent till 2009. But later, bureaucracy from the Union Ministry scrapped these benefits and made them on par with any other central government agency.
The government should introduce performance-based incentives, cash rewards, honorary awards, and start a compulsory bond to retain scientific talent in the organisation. Experienced retired senior scientific staff should have an option to continue till 65 years of age after retirement.
Institutions like ISSRO, BARC, ICAR, CSIR are supposed to be jewels in Indian Science and Technology. But the present BJP government is bent on privatising all public sector units, starting from heavy industry, sea and air ports to health, education and renowned scientific research institutions. People, Trade Unions and students should fight against the neoliberal economic reforms that are harming the people and the nation’s self-reliance.
(Author: Dr. Soma Marla, Principal Scientist (retd), ICAR, New Delhi)