Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry of India is gearing up to meet Elon Musk next in United States. A report says that both sides are planning to advance Tesla”s presence in India. Elon Musk had earlier met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and pronounced his interest in making investments in India.
Earlier, reports suggested that PM Modi is “actively working” on providing approval for the potential entry of Tesla in to the country and aims to clear all necessary arrangements by January 2024. Mr. Modi has met with the billionaire during his visit to United States in June. It is said that government departments have been arranged to clear any differences with Tesla to pave way for the declaration of the company’s entry to India, said report.
According to Reuters, the talk between India’s Commerce Minister and Mr. Musk will be centered on the plans of Tesla’s factory in India, manufacturing car worth $24,000, providing charging infrastructure across the country and sourcing more components, as reported by Times of India.
The meeting is also likely to talk about the new policy proposed by India which will allow automakers to import fully built Electronic vehicles (EV) to India at 15 % reduced tax rate down from as much as 100 % now. Report says that the meeting scheduled on next week is to make sure that the talks about Tesla’s plan to invest in India “are moving in the right direction”.
Report said that on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office held meeting with ministries to accelerate the new EV policy.
The automotive and energy company Tesla has first made its attempt to set foot in India in 2021 by “pushing” the officials to cut down on 100% import tax on Electric Vehicles. Later the officials clarified that the company would have to first hold commitment with local manufacturing.