Government Seeks Roadmap, Timeline For Tesla Manufacturing Plant In India

Weeks after Tesla executives visited India to discuss manufacturing plant setup in the country, the government seeks a roadmap report of the same from the EV giant. 

Further, the government officials will analyse the report sought to decide the kind of concessions it is willing to offer, Financial Express reported. 

The report states that Tesla is likely to get back with the plans and the timeline that is needed to create a local vendor base in the next three to six months. 

Tesla and the Indian government have been in disagreements regarding the import duty concessions for some time now. However, the latter told the former that concessions may be offered only if a domestic plant for its EV manufacturing is set up in the country.

A government official told FE, “The government is willing to give time for setting up a domestic vendor base but Tesla will have to indicate a period by which the duty concessions on components granted to it will come to an end.” 

Further, the government may also come out with a modification in the PLI scheme for the EV giant once Tesla confirms the time-frame. Through this, the government is looking to invite fresh investments from companies which did not participate earlier in the electric vehicles and advanced chemistry cell battery.

Interestingly, modification of the PLI scheme is not a new site to watch. Such actions had been taken earlier, to include companies in the telecom and IT Hardware industries including Apple. 

Reportedly, Tesla hasn’t spoken anymore about its previous demands on import duty, when its executives met the government officials this month. 

After the meeting with the Tesla executives, Reuters quoted Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar saying, “They are very seriously looking at India as a production and innovation base.”

Reportedly, Elon Musk is also planning to manufacture EV batteries in the proposed plant. 

Citing the fact that India is home to 21.7 Lakh registered EVs and the consumption is growing rapidly, Elon Musk seems to be upfront in grabbing the India market opportunity.