and Sarla Aviation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly develop Shunya, a six-seater plus pilot electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, the companies announced on Tuesday.
The partnership brings together Tata Elxsi’s engineering capabilities in avionics, flight control systems, software integration, testing, verification and validation, and certification with Sarla Aviation’s role as the lead on design, development and type certification of the Shunya platform. The collaboration may also extend to sensor fusion-based navigation software, structural design and airworthiness test support.
Shunya is designed for flight operations exceeding 300 kilometres, combining vertical take-off and landing with fixed-wing cruise efficiency to enable runway-independent operations. The aircraft’s first flight is targeted within 18 to 24 months, with certification activities expected to follow.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Manoj Raghavan, CEO and Managing Director of Tata Elxsi, and Adrian Schmidt and Rakesh Gaonkar, Co-Founders of Sarla Aviation. Both companies indicated the partnership could eventually extend to logistics, air ambulance services and defence-related applications.
Sarla Aviation was founded in 2023 by Schmidt and Gaonkar, who previously worked together at German eVTOL company Lilium. The Bengaluru-based startup is developing Shunya to connect Indian cities and regions with faster air travel, while also building the broader operational ecosystem required to scale the service.
Tata Elxsi shares closed at ₹3,638 on the NSE on Tuesday, up 1.66 per cent from the previous session. The stock has declined approximately 32 per cent over the past year and carries a market capitalisation of around ₹22,665 crore.