Electric carmaker Tesla has finally cleared many questions regarding the Indian passenger vehicle market. In response to a query by Jasveer Singh, co-founder of luxury-chain hotel booking app Qik Stay, Tesla’s Elon Musk replied, “In discussions with the government of India requesting temporary relief on import penalties/restrictions until a local factory is built.”
The Indian EV market can no longer be ignored by any automobile company and this isn’t the first time that Musk has shown interest in the Indian market.
He last tweeted about local sourcing norms, to which the government’s Twitter handle replied with clarification about his queries. Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, called on Musk to participate in the Indian EV market in a tweet that said, “Time you got here Elon. You don’t want to leave the whole market to Mahindra do you? The more the merrier—and greener..!”
Tesla wants to start exporting its current models to the Indian market, and is interested in setting up a manufacturing base here. The government’s think-tank NITI Aayog recently announced its draft report stating that the country intends to go all-electric by the year 2030.
