Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but did not announce specific details. There was also news on Monday that the Indian government plans to approve Tesla’s factory project in India by January next year.
Musk will meet Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in the U.S. next week to agree on potential terms for the company’s entry into the Indian market, existing sources told Reuters.
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Their discussions will reportedly focus on matters related to Tesla’s India factory, which will produce electric cars worth $24,000 (IT Home note: currently around Rs 175,000) for India. In addition, Tesla is also ready to purchase more parts in India as well as laying charging infrastructure across the country.
Additionally, Musk and Goyal will discuss a new policy being developed in India that will allow automakers to reduce import tariffs on complete vehicles from 100 percent to 15 percent, provided they commit to partial local manufacturing.
Tesla actually started trying to enter the Indian market in 2021, but since the 100 percent import duty on electric cars was never negotiated, India required the company to take the first step towards local manufacturing.
Tesla and India have been in talks for months, and the US automaker is willing to set up a factory but is more eager to lower the import duty on its cars, the sources said.
A third source said Prime Minister Modi’s office held a meeting with various ministries on Monday to speed up the implementation of the new electric vehicle policy.
He added that the government is also analyzing the impact the new policy could have on the Indian electric vehicle market, as local automakers often say that lower import duties on electric vehicles could disrupt the market.
