Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh is looking for talented young scientists. He told 4,000 scientists at the annual Science Congress in Shillong, Meghalaya, on 3 January that Indian science needed “a new generation of role models and leaders”.

Despite government efforts, he said, Indian science is lagging behind not just developed nations, but also newly industrialized states such as China.

A bias towards seniority is the norm in India, says Jayaraman Gowrishankar, director of the Centre for DNA Finger-printing and Diagnostics in Hyderabad. Finding young leaders is not easy, as the average age of scientists in national laboratories is close to 50. However, says Thirumalachari Ramasamy, president of the Science Congress, “identifying younger talent is possible if selection committees heed Singh's advice”.

Gifted students are increasingly seeking better-paying fields outside science, exacerbating a brain drain to the West that has continued since the 1970s. This has created a vacuum in mid-career positions, says C. N. R. Rao, science adviser to Singh.

But this may be about to change. India's education and science ministries have increased fellowship money by 50%. Last month, Singh launched a five-year, 21-billion-rupee (US$427-million) scholarship programme for a million 10–15-year-olds, whose funding can continue through graduate school as long as they continue with science. And a new programme called INSPIRE (innovation in science pursuit for inspired research) is to give selected new PhDs five-year government or university research positions.

Still, it will take time for a new crop of scientists to emerge, says Govindarajan Padmanaban, former director of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore. The immediate challenge, he says, is to find thousands of new faculty members. He suggests that rules could be relaxed to recruit fresh PhDs and the retirement age be raised from 60 to 65.

A Global Indian Network of Knowledge initiative, announced on 8 January, will let expatriates who have given up Indian citizenship return more easily by acquiring an Overseas Citizenship of India card. The government has so far issued nearly 350,000 cards.

This, however, is unlikely to affect top institutions such as the IISc that already attract expatriates. “I do not believe we have enough committed Indians abroad wanting to return,” says Padmanaban.