Are ISRO activities being privatised? Anxious staff seek Govt response

Following the successful launch of India's GSLV F-17/EOS-05 space mission on Friday(4th September), employees of the Indian space agency ISRO have sought a clarification from the Indian Government over the ongoing privatisation of certain ISRO activities.

This author has accessed the five-page letter which employee associations of crucial ISRO centres have jointly written to the ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan, who also serves as the Secretary of the Indian Government's Department of Space, which operates under the direct supervision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Since the year 2020, the Modi Government has been spearheading the "opening up of space sector to private players", a process that sections within the Government-run ISRO have been "anxious and fearful" about. The latest letter reflects the growing concerns and unease.

The letter has been signed by nine representatives of various ISRO employee associations linked to major ISRO centers such as VSSC, SDSC, URSC, LPSC, SAC, NRSC, and IPRC. On the strict condition of anonymity, multiple representatives of ISRO employees' associations confirmed the authenticity of their letter with this author. They added that their associations represented the concerns of around 5,000 employees, which is around one-fourth(27%) of ISRO's 18,100 employee headcount.

When this author contacted him for a response regarding the privatisation of ISRO activities and related concerns that employees had raised in the letter, Dr. V. Narayanan, ISRO Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space, did not offer a comment.

The trigger for the concerns – a statement by Dr. Pawan Goenka

"Eventually, ISRO will not make any launch vehicles and will not manufacture any launch vehicles. That will all be done by the private Sector or Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs)," Dr. Pawan Goenka had said during a televised event in August 2026. The employee associations' letter quotes this statement and says that it had caused widespread concern among serving employees, their families, and thousands of young citizens who aspire to a career in the national space programme.

Dr. Pawan Goenka has been appointed by the Modi Government to head the government agency IN-SPACE, which is meant to promote and facilitate end-to-end private participation in the ISRO-dominated Indian space sector.

Dr. Goenka is an automobile industry veteran who has been heading IN-SPACE since 2021. An IITian with a subsequent Ph.D. from Cornell and a management degree at Harvard, Goenka worked at the General Motors R&D Centre, Detroit, for 14 years and at India's Mahindra & Mahindra(M&M) Ltd. for 28 years. He retired from M&M as MD & CEO in the year 2021, following which he was appointed to lead the Indian Government's IN-SPACE.

‘ISRO's rocket tech being transferred to private and Govt firms, without official communication to employees’

The ISRO employees' association letter mentions the SSLV rocket technology and production technology being sold to Government firm Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL), and the ongoing bidding process for technology transfer of India's largest rocket, LVM3, and similar efforts for transferring the technology of the workhorse PSLV rocket.

The letter also cites reports about routine satellite manufacturing possibly being moved out of ISRO, and that operation of new launch infrastructure, including the Government's Space Launch Complex at Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu being opened to private entities.

In light of these developments, the employees' associations highlight that such decisions or proposals by the Government have not been accompanied by any corresponding official communication from the Department of Space to its employees.
It adds that there has been no communication from the Department of Space explaining the approved policy, its legal and administrative basis, its phasing, or its consequences for the existing workforce.

‘Why are ISRO employees anxious?’

The letter cites that ISRO was built as a national scientific institution with public funds, public purpose and a public workforce. "Launch-vehicle design, realisation, integration, testing and launch operations are not merely 'manufacturing contracts'. They are the core competence, institutional memory and strategic capability of the Organisation," ISRO staff association explained.

The letter expresses concern that ISRO's progressive withdrawal from launch-vehicle and satellite realisation will tamper with experiments after research, shrink in-house work, freeze or reduce sanctioned strength, and close promotion and skill- development avenues in technical, scientific, administrative, stores, purchase, quality, safety and industrial cadres.

Further, it says that existing employees who are working under ISRO's own facilities may be rendered surplus, or redeployed, or left without meaningful work while the same tasks are performed by private contractors using publicly developed technology.

It also said that strategic autonomy, quality assurance, safety culture and accountability that are inherent to a national space agency may be diluted if core realisation and launch operations pass out of public control.

"Regular recruitment to Group A, B and C posts - already constrained by vacancies and attrition - will further decline, denying opportunity to meritorious youth who look to ISRO as a career," reads the letter. This comes at a time when Indian Government data reveals that ISRO faces a human resource shortage: Indian Parliament data from February 2026 showed that ISRO has a sanctioned strength of 14,108 staff in the Science and Technology domain, of which only 12,472 are in position, which indicates an 11 per cent resource crunch. The Government had said it is undertaking efforts to fill 1,261 of the 1,636 vacancies.

In the Admin domain, ISRO has a sanctioned strength of 4,034 staff. However, only 3,057 are in position, which indicates a 24 per cent resource crunch. The Government had said it is undertaking efforts to fill 188 of the 977 vacant posts.

‘Draw a line between private participation and dismantling ISRO's own realisation capability’

The ISRO staff associations emphasised that they are not hostile towards Indian industry, and they are not opposed to legitimate commercialisation through NSIL (ISRO's commercial arm) within a defined framework. "The concern is the absence of an official Department of Space policy document that draws a clear line between (i) enabling private participation and (ii) dismantling ISRO's own realisation capability," they added.

Further, they agreed that private participation in defined commercial activities can coexist with a strong, publicly-owned ISRO. However, they stressed that "a policy that reduces ISRO to a residual R&D boutique while the realisation of the nation's launch vehicles and the operation of its launch infrastructure pass out of public hands, cannot be accepted without debate".

Technology developed by ISRO is a national asset. Its transfer must be transparent, accountable, and consistent with strategic, safety and employment considerations. On such transfer of Government-developed technology to private firms, ISRO staff associations highlighted that they have an earned right to be informed, consulted and protected. "Natural justice and good administration require that policy of this magnitude be explained to the workforce by the Department itself."

Clarifications sought from ISRO Chief, Secretary, Dept of Space (Govt of India)

The ISRO staff associations requested Dr. V. Narayanan, the ISRO Chief and Secretary, DoS, to issue an official, written clarification addressing their concerns in a time-bound manner.

Further, it wanted the Department of Space to conduct a structured interaction with the recognised Service Associations on the future role of ISRO, staffing, recruitment, among others.

The ISRO staff associations emphasised that they were submitting this representation to the Government in a constructive and democratic spirit. "Our loyalty to ISRO and to the national space programme is not in question. Precisely
because of that loyalty, we consider it our duty to seek clarity before uncertainty hardens into irreversible policy," concluded the letter, which sought a written response from the government.