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Reports indicate that between 100 and 120 scientists and technicians have resigned from ISRO centres in recent months.
Nearly 80 left the UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru and around 20 the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram.
Departures include personnel associated with the Chandrayaan-3 and SpaDeX missions.
The principal driver is India's rapidly growing private space sector, with over 400 space start-ups.
The Department of Space issued an order on 14 July 2026 requiring resignations of Group A scientific staff on critical missions to be centrally approved.
ISRO's lead centre for the design, development and integration of satellites
ISRO's lead centre for launch vehicle development
The Union department under which ISRO functions, reporting directly to the Prime Minister
Brain drain usually describes skilled people emigrating abroad, but the same dynamic operates domestically when one sector can outbid another for the same skills. Public institutions are bound by government pay scales that cannot be varied for individuals, while private firms can offer equity and market salaries. Where the public body is the sole trainer of a scarce skill, as ISRO effectively is for Indian space engineering, it ends up subsidising its competitors: it bears the cost of building expertise that the private sector then hires away. The remedies available are limited to retention allowances, bonding periods, or accepting circulation as the price of a wider ecosystem.
Simple Analogy: It is like a teaching hospital that trains every specialist in the city and then watches private clinics hire them, while being unable to match the salaries it created the demand for.
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology: Achievements of Indians in Science; Indigenisation of Technology
General Awareness > Science and Current Affairs
ISRO's Bengaluru centre responsible for satellite design, development and integration.
ISRO's Thiruvananthapuram centre responsible for launch vehicle development.
ISRO's Space Docking Experiment, demonstrating autonomous docking of two spacecraft in orbit.
Voluntary Retirement Scheme, allowing an employee to retire before superannuation.
The senior category of central government service, covering scientific and technical officers in ISRO.