Zomato Founder Sets Ambitious Plan to Build India’s First Homegrown Jet Engine

From food to flight—India’s startup ecosystem is witnessing one of its most unexpected yet ambitious leaps. Imagine the mind behind your favorite food delivery app now engineering cutting-edge jet engines.

Yes, you heard that right. Deepinder Goyal, the founder of Zomato, is no longer just delivering biryanis and burgers. He’s now set on delivering India’s next aerospace revolution.

Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal Wants to Build India’s Very Own Jet Engines

Once a pioneer in food delivery, Zomato is now taking a bold detour into the skies. In a surprising yet strategic move, Deepinder Goyal has co-founded LAT Aerospace, a Bengaluru-based aerospace startup, with the ambitious goal of designing and manufacturing Made-in-India gas turbine engines from scratch.

This isn’t just a branding exercise or tech flirtation. Goyal is serious. He has already committed $20 million of his own money and has called upon engineers across the country to join a hands-on propulsion research team headquartered in Bengaluru.

This team will work on building lightweight, efficient, and flight-ready gas turbine engines tailored for Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) aircraft, UAVs, and regional aircraft.

“India has tried building gas turbine engines before. And we’ve come close,” Goyal wrote in a recent LinkedIn post. “At LAT, we want to get past the finish line.”

The company’s upcoming facility in Bengaluru will include advanced labs for combustion, turbomachinery, thermal systems, and materials development, creating a full-stack ecosystem for aerospace innovation.

Co-founded with former Zomato COO Surobhi Das, LAT Aerospace isn’t stopping at engines. Their broader goal? To transform regional air travel in India.

The plan includes building 12- to 24-seater aircraft that can operate from small “air-stops”—runways no larger than parking lots. These STOL aircraft will offer low-cost, high-frequency flights, making air travel more accessible to remote or underserved regions.

Despite India having over 450 airstrips, fewer than 150 are commercially operational today. LAT Aerospace sees this as a golden opportunity. Public sector initiatives, like HAL’s and NAL’s Saras program, have faced repeated delays and setbacks. With the Saras aircraft still stuck in prototype stages and no concrete rollout timeline in sight, LAT Aerospace aims to fill the vacuum left by these state-run efforts.

Conclusion: A Bold Flight Path for Indian Aviation

With a practical, market-driven approach, LAT Aerospace could very well be a game-changer in India’s aviation ecosystem. By building homegrown jet engines and aircraft tailored for regional travel, it not only fills a glaring infrastructure gap but also challenges the dominance of sluggish government programs.

If successful, Deepinder Goyal’s latest venture might just be remembered not for delivering food, but for delivering India’s aerospace independence.

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