ISRO's talent struggle: '60% IIT graduates walk out over low salaries,' says Chairman

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is facing a challenge in attracting top talents from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campuses, primarily due to the organization's pay structure. ISRO Chairman Dr S Somanath revealed that during a recruitment drive at one of the IITs, 60% of the students walked out after seeing the salary package offered by the space agency.

Somanath expressed his concerns, stating that despite the vital role played by engineers in space missions, very few IIT graduates are joining ISRO. He recounted an incident where his team presented career opportunities and salary structures at an IIT campus. However, upon learning about the ISRO salary scale, a significant portion of the students chose to leave the presentation.

The chairman pointed out that the preference for higher salaries among IIT graduates is a prevailing trend. He highlighted that while money might attract some individuals, it cannot be the sole motivation for working at ISRO. Somanath emphasized the need for adequate talent rather than necessarily the "best talent," stressing that there are highly competent individuals beyond the spectrum of those who secure IIT admissions.

Talents are spread out over a very wide spectrum of social strata, thousands and lakhs of people who have the competency of that (IIT) nature don't get the opportunity (to sit for the IIT exam)," Somanath said, adding that he was one of them. "When I was a student I never had the opportunity to write an entrance to go to IIT. That does not mean that I was not a knowing person. Lakhs of such people are not writing the IIT examination."

This issue has drawn attention from various quarters. Business tycoon Harsh Goenka noted the discrepancy between the starting salary at ISRO and the average placement package in top IITs, which stood at Rs 2.5 lakh. Moreover, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor highlighted the success of engineers from institutions like Kerala's TKM College of Engineering and College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET) in Chandrayaan-3.

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