In this meeting, officials of the Heavy Industries Ministry gave a presentation on the new EV policy. A senior official said, “Inputs were taken in the stakeholder consultation meeting on the guidelines to be prepared for the new EV manufacturing policy. In this meeting, Tesla was represented by its advisor The Asia Group. Vietnam’s EV maker VinFast was also present in it. ” Apart from this, representatives of Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hyundai, Mahindra&Mahindra, Kia, Skoda, Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW were also present in this meeting. Musk is likely to visit India next week. Musk can announce the company’s investment and setting up an EV factory in the country.
In June last year, Prime Minister Modi and Musk had a meeting in New York, America. Tesla had lobbied to impose import tax on electric vehicles in the country. Last month, the central government had announced a new EV policy in which the import tax on some models has been reduced from 100 percent to 15 percent if the automobile company invests at least $500 million. However, the country’s automobile companies were opposing this exemption.
Recently, it was reported in a report that Tesla has started manufacturing right-hand drive cars at its plant in Germany for export to India. However, it is not known which model of Tesla will be exported to India. The Model Y is manufactured at the company’s plant near Berlin in Germany. Tesla will focus on states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu for its factory where the automotive industry is already present. Due to declining demand in the company’s big markets like America and China, it is exploring opportunities in new markets.