ISRO Employees Object to Pawan Goenka's Privatisation 'Plan' for India's Premier Space Agency

New Delhi: Will ISRO, India's premier space body, innovate merely to transfer its technologies to the private sector, effectively subsidising corporate giants entering the field? This is the primary concern raised by scientists and staffers in a letter to ISRO chairman V. Narayanan. The letter, reports the Indian Express, follows lengthy remarks made by Pawan Goenka, who heads the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (InSpace), at a recent public event.

“Eventually, ISRO will not manufacture any launch vehicles, that will be done by the private sector or PSU. They will not do any day in day out kind of satellites. They will do the satellites that are for special purpose, for orbits for scientific research or to develop new technology that will then get transferred to the private sector,” Goenka said at an India Today event.

The letter from ISRO staffers across several units and functions notes that ISRO has already transferred around 120 technologies to industry, including the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle and the PSLV. They point out that a new spaceport being developed at Kulasekharapatnam in Tamil Nadu is also expected to focus on small satellite launches, where private capability is fairly advanced.

InSpace was launched in 2020 by the Modi government to transition the private sector in to the space sector – a government monopoloy for the most part – with Goenka at the helm. Goenka worked in Mahindra, the auto company, for decades and is credited with having steered the development of the company's popular SUV brand, Scorpio. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2025 in the 'Trade and Industry' category for contributions to the space sector and automotive industry.

The ISRO employees' letter suggests that the earlier idea of private sector players entering the field to support the public sector, especially in non-essential services, has changed – without keeping them in the loop.

They ask the chairperson to issue a “written clarification” on whether Goenka’s statements represent an “approved decision” of the government of India, the space commission or the department of space, the publication reports.

One of the worries expresed in the letter is whether public sector units in the space technology sector will also be excluded from manufacturing and, if so, what safeguards the employees will get. It, however, primarily raises questions about publicly funded technologies being transferred to private companies.

The associations of employees who are signatories to the letter describe the activities referenced by Goenka as ISRO’s “core competence,” warning that withdrawing from them threatens the organisation’s long-term viability, reports the Indian Express.

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