Now, Rajasthan Joins The Race To Attract Tesla India Plant

Amid reports about Tesla scouting for a location to enter into India, some of the company’s senior executives held a meeting with the Rajasthan government, the latest western state in the growing list of states looking to woo the Elon Musk-led EV manufacturing company.

Other states in the fray include Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

It is pertinent to note that Musk will be on a two-day visit to India on April 21 and 22 and would be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is also expected to announce some major decisions regarding Tesla and his Starlink internet service.

As per Business Standard’s report, sources privy to the development said that the meeting between the senior executives of Tesla and the Rajasthan government, which was held last week, turned out to be “quite positive.”

Tesla would now carry out a survey and is expected to share the survey details with the state’s investment promotion department soon. On its part, Rajasthan has already marked a couple of land parcels and conveyed it to the EV major, the report added.

The Bureau of Investment Promotion is learnt to have suggested the Bhiwadi industrial town as the location to Tesla.

During his India visit, the SpaceX’s chief executive officer is also expected to meet with the country’s burgeoning spacetech startups.

A number of startups, including Skyroot Space, Agnikul Cosmos, Bellatrix Aerospace and Dhruva Space, were invited by the government for talks with Musk, Moneycontrol reported.

This comes a day after it was reported that the EV giant is considering various locations to set up showrooms in New Delhi and Mumbai.

A Reuters report, citing sources, said that the automaker plans to set up showrooms that span 3,000 to 5,000 square feet of area. Alongside, it is also mulling setting up service hubs in both the cities.

As per the report, the EV giant began scouting for showroom locations last month and has already held talks with several real estate developers. The company is said to be eyeing potential locations for the showrooms at high street and mall sites.

With this visit, Tesla is expected to zero in on the location for its potential $2 Bn manufacturing unit in the country.

The plant, which will likely come up in the next two years, will produce EVs for domestic and global markets. Meanwhile, the company has already commenced production of right-hand drive cars at its plant in Germany

It is pertinent to note that India recently introduced an EV policy to incentivise electric vehicle companies to establish manufacturing facilities within the country. 

Under this policy, taxes on EV imports to India will be reduced from as high as 100% to just 15% if automakers invest a minimum of $500 million to set up manufacturing plants in India.

This comes at a time when there has been significant growth in EV adoption, particularly in the two-wheeler category, over the past few years. 

However, experts predict that sales of electric cars will increase by 2030 as costs decrease. According to a report, EV sales in India will reach 270 Mn units by 2032.