B.V Sheshadri is one of them. The 50-year-old former ISRO scientist took voluntary retirement three years ago to set up Karnataka Hybrid Micro Devices. Sheshadri had it all planned: he bought the rights to hybrid integrated circuits - a key technology that he had developed in 1990 and which is used in Indian, satellites - and is now working on newer applications for them. In IRS, 1 could make only what was needed for space applications. Now, I have a much wider field, he says enthusiastically.

In 1993, he bought a unit in Singapore from the US firm Micro technology International for a bargain price of Rs 5.5 crore, and transferred its state-of-the-art machinery to India. Raising the money was tough, but his company had equity participation from the Karnataka government and the industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), which also gave him a term loan of RS 3.08 crore. Though basically a scientist, Sheshadri believes he had one advantage when making the sw4tch: 'I come from a business family and so running a business is not new to me.'

Yet it hasn't been easy going. Sheshadri's first foray into telecommunications last year bombed due to sluggish market conditions. But now, with the industry on a Growth curve, he is supplying hardware for C-Dot (Centre for Development of Telematics) exchanges across the country. Confident of touching a turnover of RS 2 crore this year, Sheshadri also hopes to garner a large share of the hybrid circuit market in the automobile sector (Maruti Udyog is already one of his clients).

Not everyone, however, has been as successful as Sheshadri. his former colleague, K.V.C. Rao, for instance, is still struggling to get his business off the ground. In 1986-87, the former ISRO additional deputy-director developed a chemical called polyimide, which he believed had enormous commercial potential. Though he had more than a decade to go before retirement, Rao (quit ISRO and, together with his two sons, set up ABR Organics in Hyderabad. The initials ABR come from the names of three mythological characters. 'Amba is the wife of Shiva, Bharati, the wife of Brahma, and Rama, the wife of Vishnu. These are also the names of my mother, wife and daughter-in-law, explans Rao.

Dr. Rao also bought the technology he developed at ISRO, perfected it, and named the product Abrori-R 750. A highly versatile chemical, enamelling with Abron-R 750 improves the electrical and thermal resistance of aluminium and copper, making it extremely useful to manufacturers of ducal motors. oddly enough, though, there have been few takers. 'Rao's products are expensive. The market for them in the country is not yet developed," says Indira Verma, a professor at the Indian institute of Technology, Delhi.

To be sure, ISRO has been a veritable breeding ground for knowledge-entrepreneurs, partly because it extends considerable support to its former scientists. For example, it accepts payment for the technology sold to them in installments (though the royalty is higher), and offers them the use of its facilities for specialized work. 'There are no special privileges for former ISRO staff but we do try to help them,' admits ISRO director of technology transfer N. Sampath.

Not surprisingly, even younger ISRO scientists are beginning to strike out on their own. Take Dr. Subba Rao Pavuluri, for instance. Dr. Subba Rao was division head when he quit his job in 1991 when he was just in his late thirties, and now runs two companies - the Indian Resources Information & Management Technologies (IN-RIMT) and Ananth Technologies - both of which specialize in resource management.

A civil engineering graduate from Calicut Regional Engineering College, he went on to study hydrology and resource management at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and then work at the national Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) in 1978. IN-RIMT, which pioneered the use of Remote-Sensing in the private sector, is a Rs 2.5 crore company with a string of blue-chip clients. They include Re-liance Petrochemicals, for which it conducted environment impact assessments, pipe line alignemnt studies site locations for the marine facilities at Janinagar,. The central government for which it conducted location studies for national highways,. and Tata Telecom for which he conducted terrain analysis.

Dr.Subba Rao first hit upon the idea of specialising in remote-sensing for cellular telephony when a fellow passenger on a flight, working for a telecom company, grumbled about the lack of data on india's terrain. Once he had set up IN-RIMT, Subba Rao (His strategy was simple: he would buy data from the NRSA, analyse it, and then value-add for specific requirements). Although Dr.Rao didn't need much initial capital just Rs.40 lakhs he discovered that even raising this wasn't all that easy, Bankers were particularly sceptical. 'What if the Indian space programme is stopped?' asked one of them, when he sought a loan. After much persuasion, he eventually managed to raise Rs. 30 Lakhs from the Oriental Bank of Commerce.

Today, Dr.Subba Rao is convinced that remote-sensing will be a money-spinner. Sitting in his plush Jubilee Hills office in Hyderabad, his mind is constantly ticking over with new ideas. Among them: set ring up his own satellite receiving station. That may take some time to bear fruit, as this sector has not vet been thrown open to the private sector. Once it is, though, Dr. Subba Rao is convinced his previous experience, working in the US on a project sponsored by the National Aeronautics & Space Administration, will stand him in good stead.