New escape velocity? Isro’s talent exodus can still be a win for India

The reported departure of several senior scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has understandably caused concern. Some are associated with important national missions and possess knowledge that cannot be replaced overnight. But we should not view every departure as a national loss. India’s private space and deep technology ecosystem has finally matured enough to attract experienced scientists, offer them challenging work, and make careers outside govt professionally and financially rewarding.

This is something we should celebrate. For decades, India worried that its best scientists would leave the country because meaningful opportunities were available only abroad. Today, some of our most experienced professionals are leaving one Indian institution to build another. They are not abandoning the nation’s space ambitions; they are helping expand them. A strong national space ecosystem cannot consist of Isro alone. It must include startups, established companies, universities, investors, suppliers, testing facilities and trained talent.

There has been a similar transition in higher education with many senior IIT professors, and increasingly mid-career faculty members, joining private academic institutions. This is often described as a loss for the IITs. We must see it differently. When good private institutions can attract accomplished faculty and provide the freedom, resources, and leadership opportunities they seek, the higher education system benefits. The IITs were never meant to monopolise talent. Their larger contribution is also in producing academic leaders who can strengthen institutions across the country.

Isro must be viewed similarly. It is one of India’s finest institutions, with a remarkable culture of mission orientation, teamwork, frugality and engineering excellence. Rather than merely retaining every person it recruits, it should continuously attract young talent, train it, entrust it with responsibility and produce more leaders than it needs. Some will rise within. Others will join private companies, advise startups or create enterprises of their own. That is how national capability grows.

But if a few departures can seriously affect major programmes, it indicates that succession planning and talent renewal have not received adequate attention. That is an institutional failure, not a reason to restrict mobility by tightening exit rules.

India has an enormous reservoir of young talent coming out of higher education institutions, many of whom leave for careers abroad for lack of sufficient opportunities at home. Thousands of bright engineers and scientists would consider a career in the space programme if recruitment were regular, transparent, and timely. The answer is to widen the entry pipeline, not block the exit door.

Govt institutions often suffer because recruitment is treated as an administrative event rather than a strategic necessity. Approvals take time, sanctioned posts remain vacant, and lateral entry is difficult even when specialised expertise is urgently required in institutions working in globally competitive areas. The Department of Personnel and Training and other agencies responsible for these systems must examine how such controls are choking institutions at both the early-career and lateral-entry stages.

At the same time, Isro should embrace its role as the mother institution of India’s private space industry. It should encourage mobility, create structured fellowship programmes, enable scientists to work with startups for limited periods, welcome experienced professionals back, and build stronger pathways between govt laboratories, universities, and industry. People moving across institutions carry knowledge, standards, and professional culture with them. This circulation of talent is essential for innovation.

The emergence of attractive private opportunities is also evidence that years of public investment in deep technology, Startup India, space reforms, and entrepreneurial support are yielding results. A decade ago, an experienced space scientist had few serious options outside Isro. Today, Indian startups are attempting to launch vehicles, satellites, propulsion systems, earth observation platforms, and space-based services. They need people who understand technology, reliability, systems integration, and mission discipline. Isro scientists bring precisely this capability.

We must certainly protect critical missions and ensure responsible transitions. Scientists handling sensitive responsibilities cannot leave without proper notice, documentation, and transfer of knowledge. But retention cannot be achieved through tighter controls alone. Talented people stay when they find purpose, recognition, autonomy, growth, and fair compensation. Govt institutions too must compete for talent.

Isro’s success must ultimately be measured not only by the missions it completes, but also by the leaders, companies and capabilities it creates for the country. When a govt scientist joins an Indian startup and helps it succeed globally, India has not lost a scientist; it has multiplied the impact of one.

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