INDIAN GOVT RULES TOUGH: TESLA CEO
CHALLENGING REGULATIONS , TWEETS MUSK ON ECAR PLAN IN INDIA
SAN JOSE/NEW DELHI: India has been wooing Tesla Inc to set up a factory on its soil, but billionaire Elon Musk isn’t falling for it. At least not yet.
In a tweet, the CEO of the electric vehicle maker said a restrictive policy environment in India is proving to be a hurdle for local production.
Earlier this month, the Palo Alto, California-based company moved a step closer to establishing a factory in China, which would be its first production facility outside US shores, as the Asian giant eases rules for carmakers such as Tesla.
“Would love to be in India. Some challenging government regulations, unfortunately. Deepak Ahuja, our CFO, is from India. Tesla will be there as soon as he believes we should,” Musk tweeted in reply to a query about the automaker’s absence from the Indian market.
Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertions that “more than 1,400 archaic laws that were an obstacle to doing business have been abolished”, Asia’s third-largest economy isn’t the top pick for many foreign investors.
Musk said last year that Tesla was in discussions with the Indian government, requesting temporary waiver of import penalties and other restrictions until a local facility is built.
India had said in 2017 that it plans to have 100% electric vehicles in public transport and 40% in personal mobility by 2030.
However, earlier this year it changed its stance and decided against formulating an electric vehicle policy, saying technology should not be trapped by rules and regulations.
In 2014, Tesla had said it was keen to enter the Indian market and even identified the country as one of the possible locations to set up a manufacturing plant in Asia. It, however, said high duty on imported vehicles and lack of a separate category for electric cars prevented it from selling vehicles in India despite a huge potential.