Datanomics: Isro's attrition spikes as its salary spend declines

The Department of Space has tightened exit rules for ISRO scientists as the agency grapples with a shrinking workforce and concerns over declining salary expenditure

The Department of Space recently tightened exit rules for scientists working on India’s most critical space missions, following a spate of resignations from the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro). This comes at a time when Isro’s workforce has been shrinking: in 2017, the organisation employed 16,072 people, a number that declined to 14,637 by 2025. The share of employees working against the sanctioned strength also fell. The space agency in Russia, Roscosmos, had the greatest number of employees with 170,000 at the end of 2025; the US's Nasa had 16,986, and the UK Space Agency had 433. The number of scientists and technical staff in Isro also declined since 2021. However, their share as a total workforce of employees has marginally increased. Salaries remain the biggest concern. Across Isro’s six major divisions, salary expenditure as a share of revenue expenditure has consistently declined.