In January 2016, it was reported that the project had been cancelled. But in February 2017, the project was revived. In February 2019, India's finance ministry approved ₹6,000 crore (US$840 million) for the production of the airliner. In the mid-1980s, the Research Council recommended that the NAL should study the civil aviation requirements of India and recommended ways of establishing a viable civil aviation industry. It further recommended that the NAL should carry out a formal techno-economical feasibility study of a multi role light transport aircraft (LTA – renamed SARAS in October 1993). The feasibility study (November 1989) showed that there was a significant demand for a 9–14 seat multi-role LTA in the country and estimated a market potential of about 250–350 aircraft in the next 10 years. NAL submitted the feasibility study report to the Research Council in November 1990 and started its search for an industrial partner. The project began in 1991 as a collaboration with Russia (Myasishchev had a similar project called the Duet), but financial trouble led the Russians to drop out early in the project. The project almost came to a halt when it was hit by US-imposed sanctions in 1998, after India's nuclear tests in Pokhran. The Saras project was sanctioned on 24 September 1999 with initial schedule of its maiden flight by March 2001. The first Saras (PT1) completed its maiden flight at the HAL airport in Bangalore on 29 May 2004. The IAF has signed up with National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore for the purchase of 15 Saras aircraft and may need 45 more. For more details of the development of the Saras, click here.
