Skyroot CEO Chose ISRO Job at Rs 40,000 a Month Over Higher-Paid IIT Paths
Updated
Updated · Moneycontrol · Jul 20
Skyroot CEO Chose ISRO Job at Rs 40,000 a Month Over Higher-Paid IIT Paths
3 articles · Updated · Moneycontrol · Jul 20
Summary
Rs 40,000 a month was enough for Pawan Kumar Chandana to join ISRO after IIT, he said, arguing that working on advanced space technology mattered more than a bigger starting paycheck.
Chandana said he also chose to stay in India rather than go abroad because he saw room to help build a largely untapped domestic space ecosystem.
India's lack of mature private-space policies and funding looked like an opening, not a barrier, he said, and that early gap helped shape Skyroot Aerospace's eventual launch.
Skyroot's chief framed the decision as a lesson for founders: entering before an ecosystem is fully built can create an early-mover edge that later disappears.