Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee correspondent
On 4th September, a letter was submitted to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman and Secretary of Department of Space (DoS) by nine employee associations of ISRO questioning the government’s policy of privatisation of ISRO.
The nine associations that signed the letter included the ISRO Staff Association, ISRO Staff Association-BBU, ISRO Staff Association-LPSC, ISRO Staff Association-IPRC, SHAR Employees Association, ISAC Employees Association, NRSA Employees Union, Space Employees Association-BBU, and SAC Employees Welfare Association.
The letter was written after a statement made by Pawan Kumar Goenka, Chairman of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), at an event, that “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 PSU.” The associations are rightly agitated about the fact that they were not informed about such an important policy and were confused whether what Mr. Goenka had said was a government policy or not.
Employees asked, “What will be future mandated role of ISRO – specifically, whether design, development, realisation, integration, testing and launch of PSLV, LVM-3, SSLV and successor vehicles will continue as ISRO functions or will cease. Whether any decision has been taken to exclude PSUs from the proposed transfer of PSLV/VLM-3 production and the justification for such exclusion.”
They said they have reasonable fear that a progressive withdrawal of ISRO launch-vehicle and satellite realisation will tamper 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.
“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,” the representation said.
“Existing employees may be rendered surplus, or redeployed, or left without meaningful work, while the same tasks are performed by private contractors using publicly developed technology. 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 public career of honour, not as private contractor’s workforce,” the letter reads.
Employees said they will plan a further course of action once the written reply is received.
Privatisation of the space sector started about six years ago. Private players are being invited to take over manufacturing of launch vehicles. In August 2026, private firms were invited to take over management of the Rs. 986 crore Small Satellite Launch Complex at Kulasekarapattinam, a spaceport designed by ISRO Staff with public money. According to IN-SPACe, the private player will manage launch campaigns, handle safety and security, and take care of readiness for launch missions on the site. About 120 technologies, dealing with launch vehicles designing, testing, integration and launch operations, have already been transferred from ISRO to the private sector.
The space economy of India is projected to grow from $8.4billion to $44 billion within the next 7-8 years. Indian capitalists are eying this opportunity to profit tremendously, using technologies developed with public money.
Upon noting the growing resistance to privatisation from employees theISRO Chairman addressed a meeting saying that the plan to work with private players is to expand the country’s space economy. He confirmed that “mature and routinely manufactured systems will be scaled through industry or PSUs.”
Privatisation of the space sector is yet another instance where public money and the hard work of thousands of scientists and technologists is used to develop a critical technology and capability. When it is ready for commercialisation, it is being handed over to capitalists for making profit.
ISRO employees have rightly pointed out that the launch vehicle design and manufacture are connected to their core job and requires continuous integration and cannot be treated as a side activity for privatisation. Furthermore, it is a capability that ISRO has built over decades of hard work of its employees and with taxpayers’ money. What logic justifies handover of such critical capabilities to private players now? They are questioning the safety measurements and accountability of launch operations once they are handed over to private players.
The questions being raised by ISRO employees are just and deserve support of all workers.