Some approvals take a decade. Sarla Aviation got India’s fastest one ever. At the inauguration of its new Bengaluru headquarters on August 8, the Bengaluru-based eVTOL startup received the Design Organisation Approval (DOA) from the DGCA, handed personally by Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu — a milestone no Indian aerospace company has hit this quickly, at just three years old.
The DOA is the regulator’s formal confirmation that a company has the design capability, processes, and internal checks needed to build aircraft to certified standards. For Sarla, it’s the gateway to the next big step: pursuing full type certification for Shunya, India’s first indigenous eVTOL of its class.
Sarla Aviation: Key Highlights From The Announcement
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Approval Received | DGCA Design Organisation Approval (under CAR 21 Subpart J) |
| Presented By | Union Minister Ram Mohan Naidu |
| Company Age | ~3 years — fastest DOA in Indian aviation history |
| Flagship Aircraft | Shunya, India’s first indigenous eVTOL of its class |
| Flight Testing So Far | 500+ flight tests, 18 hours of flight testing |
| Next Milestone | Transition flight with new prototype, expected January 2027 |
| New Partnerships Signed | Manipal Hospitals & Aeromed, Prestige Group, Jio-bp, Jeppesen ForeFlight, Hexcel Composites, Tata Elxsi |
The event drew a packed room — Indian Air Force and Army leadership, Bengaluru International Airport’s COO, and partners spanning healthcare, energy, and real estate — signaling how seriously India’s advanced air mobility ecosystem is being built out. Naidu framed the approval as proof of the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat push, noting India built its entire eVTOL regulatory framework in just 13 months, a process that took Western regulators nearly a decade.
The DGCA, the statutory body responsible for all civil aviation regulation in India, has been central to enabling this speed — a detail worth understanding given how unusual a fast-tracked design approval is in a historically slow-moving sector.
Six new partnerships signed at the event — spanning air ambulance services, vertiport infrastructure, navigation software, and flight control systems — suggest Sarla isn’t just chasing certification milestones but actively building the ecosystem air taxis will eventually need to operate at scale across Indian cities.
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