Andhra Pradesh is gearing up to host India’s first giga-scale electric air taxi manufacturing cluster, with Sarla Aviation from Karnataka committing ₹1,300 crore to the project. The plan was formalised after Sarla Aviation and the Andhra Pradesh Airport Development Corporation Ltd (APADCL) signed an MoU during the CII Partnership Summit 2025 in Visakhapatnam. It comes soon after Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that drone taxi production would begin within the next two years.
At the heart of the initiative is the Sky Factory, an eVTOL manufacturing hub that Sarla says will rank among the largest of its kind anywhere. In the first phase, the company will pump in ₹330 crore to set up a 150-acre production and testing campus at Thimmasamduram village in Kalyanadurg mandal. The site will house assembly lines, R&D facilities, composite units, and a dedicated two-kilometre runway for trials and certification.
A second phase will add another 350 acres, eventually giving the Sky Factory the capacity to build up to 1,000 aircraft every year. This includes Sarla’s Shunya hybrid VTOL as well as a range of India-made electrical harnesses, landing gear systems, and composite structures.
The project is expected to create high-skill jobs by 2027, starting with 40 specialist positions and around 140 indirect roles.
Sarla Aviation’s cofounder and CTO, Rakesh Gaonkar, said the goal is to push India to the forefront of the next wave of aviation. He described the Sky Factory as a facility designed to build the aircraft of the future and place India at the centre of sustainable air mobility.
As a strategic partner, APADCL will help accelerate approvals and support the creation of the surrounding ecosystem. The state government views the project as a cornerstone in its effort to turn Andhra Pradesh into a base for advanced manufacturing, aerospace innovation, and green mobility.
Founded in 2023 and backed by Accel, Sarla Aviation is working on a six-seater electric air taxi meant to shrink commute times in major cities. The company aims to launch commercial operations by 2029 and position India as a serious contender in the global electric aviation market.
