Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla mentioned his visit, to India to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to sources with the matter Musk is expected to discuss investment opportunities and potential factory plans in the country.
“I’m excited about the prospect of meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India!” Musk expressed on media following reports of his planned visit this month.
Scheduled for the week of April 22 in New Delhi Musks meeting with Modi will coincide with an announcement regarding Teslas intentions in India. The sources requesting anonymity due to confidentiality concerns shared these details.
Both Modis office and Tesla have refrained from commenting on the matter. It is important to note that there might be changes to Musks finalized itinerary for his trip to India.
Musks visit aligns closely with Indias two month election period starting April 19 where Modi is anticipated to secure a third term as Prime Minister. A potential investment by Tesla during this period could further showcase Modis efforts in attracting investments and generating employment opportunities through manufacturing operations in India.
During his stay Elon Musk will be joined by executives from Tesla as, per one of the sources.
Musk and Modi last saw each other in New York back, in June. Tesla had been advocating for import taxes on vehicles in India for quite some time especially as they considered establishing a factory there. Recently India introduced an EV policy that reduces import taxes from 100% to 15% on models if a manufacturer invests at least $500 million and establishes a factory.
According to reports by Reuters Tesla officials are set to visit India this month to scout locations for a manufacturing facility that would require an investment of around $2 billion.
In addition Tesla has initiated the production of right hand drive cars at its plant with plans to export them to India this year as per insider sources.
Expressing his views recently Musk mentioned that “India should embrace cars like other countries have done. Introducing Tesla vehicles in India is a step forward.”
Teslas expansion into the market coincides with the declining demand for EVs in its U.S. And Chinese markets while facing increased competition from Chinese automakers. The company reported first quarter deliveries than what analysts anticipated.
Although the EV market, in India is relatively small but growing steadily it is currently dominated by local automaker Tata Motors. Electric vehicles accounted for 2% of car sales in 2023 but the government aims to increase this figure to 30% by 2030.
