Introduction

For an organisation known for landing spacecraft on the Moon and Mars on a shoestring budget, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is facing a very different kind of challenge in 2026: keeping its own scientists. Over the last few years, and sharply in recent months, a growing number of experienced scientists and engineers — including some who worked on Chandrayaan-3, SpaDeX, and the high-profile Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme — have resigned or sought voluntary retirement. The situation has become serious enough that the Department of Space recently stepped in with new rules to slow down the outflow.

So what’s actually driving this ISRO talent exodus? The answer isn’t a single cause — it’s a mix of pay, opportunity, and organisational pressure. Here’s the full picture.

The Numbers Behind the Exodus

This isn’t a brand-new problem, but it has accelerated. According to official data, <cite index=”2-1″>around 700 ISRO employees resigned between 2012 and 2024, while nearly half of the agency’s newly recruited employees reportedly left between 2004 and 2007</cite>. More recently, <cite index=”1-1″>more than 100 personnel have left ISRO in recent months</cite>, prompting the Department of Space to act.

The concern isn’t just the headcount — it’s who is leaving. <cite index=”1-1″>Key scientists from Chandrayaan-3, SpaDeX, and Gaganyaan have resigned for private sector opportunities</cite>, taking years of mission-critical experience with them. On top of this, <cite index=”2-1″>ISRO’s scientific and technical workforce is already operating below sanctioned strength, with more than 1,600 vacancies yet to be filled</cite>, according to parliamentary data.

Reason 1: The Pay Gap With Private Space Companies

Money is the most talked-about factor, and the numbers explain why. Entry-level ISRO scientists and engineers typically start on a Level 10 pay scale, with reports citing starting salaries around <cite index=”16-1″>Rs 56,100 to Rs 1,77,500</cite> per month, moving up through the ranks over years of service. Even senior scientists at the top of the Merit Promotion Scheme — the rank of Distinguished Scientist — top out at <cite index=”10-1″>Rs 2,05,400 to Rs 2,24,400</cite> per month.

Compare that to India’s booming private space industry. Skyroot Aerospace co-founder Pawan Kumar Chandana, a former ISRO scientist himself, has publicly shared that <cite index=”11-1″>he joined ISRO on a monthly salary of Rs 35,000</cite> before leaving in 2018 to build Skyroot — a company that has now made history with India’s first privately built orbital rocket launch. Stories like this have become a talking point for engineers weighing a government career against the fast-growing private space sector in India.

Reason 2: The Rise of India’s Private Space Industry

A decade ago, a scientist leaving ISRO had very few serious alternatives in the Indian space sector. That has changed dramatically. Companies like Skyroot Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos, Pixxel, and Dhruva Space have built a genuine NewSpace ecosystem, backed by venture capital and offering equity, faster career growth, and the appeal of building something from the ground up.

For scientists who spent a decade or more inside ISRO’s structured, hierarchical system, these startups offer not just better pay, but a different pace — smaller teams, quicker decision-making, and visible ownership over a product, from rocket engines to satellite constellations.

Reason 3: Structural and Organisational Pressures

Pay isn’t the only story. Internal memos reviewed by media outlets point to deeper institutional strain. A recent Department of Space memorandum noted <cite index=”2-1″>”a spate of requests for voluntary retirement and resignation from Group ‘A’ scientific/technical personnel including those associated with prestigious Gaganyaan and other important missions/projects, severely impacting implementation of projects of national importance.”</cite>

This suggests the resignations aren’t randomly distributed — they’re concentrated among experienced staff on flagship missions, which is precisely where institutional knowledge is hardest to replace. Combined with existing vacancies and slow recruitment cycles, remaining teams are often left absorbing extra workload, which can itself become a reason for further attrition — a cycle familiar to many large public sector organisations.

Reason 4: A History of Attrition, Not Just a New Trend

It’s worth noting that ISRO has dealt with attrition challenges before, sometimes for very different reasons — including internal controversies. Following the 2011 Antrix-Devas deal controversy, several senior scientists left or were pushed out amid disputes over how the matter was handled, with even a Space Commission member resigning in protest at the time over how former colleagues were treated.

This history matters because it shows that ISRO’s resignation trend has more than one root cause over the years — from internal governance issues in the past to today’s compensation and opportunity gap.

How ISRO Is Responding

ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan has sought to downplay the alarm around the exodus, stating that <cite index=”2-1″>”a lot of people go, but that’s part of every organisation,”</cite> while stressing that responsibilities are reassigned as needed so that missions don’t suffer. At the same time, the Department of Space has tightened the resignation process for scientists working on mission-critical projects, requiring centre directors to defer approvals until a project reaches completion — effectively slowing the exit process for key personnel rather than addressing the underlying pull factors.

ISRO is also actively recruiting, with over 1,050 scientific, technical, and administrative posts reportedly in the pipeline, alongside a cadre restructuring exercise. But as one industry observation puts it, recruiting new graduates is far easier than replacing scientists with a decade of mission experience.

What This Means for India’s Space Ambitions

India’s space programme is entering one of its most ambitious phases yet — with Gaganyaan’s crewed missions, a growing satellite launch business, and deeper collaboration with agencies like NASA on projects such as NISAR. Retaining experienced talent matters more now than ever, not less.

The resignation wave also reflects something positive about India’s space sector as a whole: the existence of a credible private space industry is, in many ways, a sign of ISRO’s own success. Decades of ISRO-trained talent are now seeding a wider ecosystem of Indian space startups — even if that comes at a short-term cost to the parent organisation.

Conclusion

The reasons ISRO scientists are resigning aren’t mysterious — they come down to a widening pay gap with private space companies, the rise of a genuine NewSpace industry in India, and organisational pressures tied to understaffing on high-profile missions. Whether ISRO’s new resignation policy solves the deeper problem, or simply delays it, will likely depend on whether pay structures and career growth inside the organisation start to keep pace with the private sector it helped create.