In the recent development, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways told Indian Express that Tesla will soon start operations in India by early next year. This comes after there were reports of Tesla having exploratory discussions with the Karnataka government officials over the possibility of opening a research facility in Bengaluru.
Gadkari has been an advocate of using electric vehicles in the past. While talking to the Indian Express Idea Exchange programme, he said that the company is expected to start operations in India by early 2021. The company will start with sales first, followed by assembly and manufacturing based on the response received. Having said that, he hopes that India will become a manufacturing hub for auto in the coming five years.
In the past, India has been a favourite destination for companies such as Bosch, Mahindra Electric, Ather Energy, Daimler and others to work towards electric car manufacturing. Tesla will be the new entrant in the country, if things go well.
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Musk had earlier hinted that the launch of the Tesla facility should hopefully happen soon in India. He had blamed policies by the Indian government for not having ventured into the country till now.
Reports suggest that the first model to come to India will be the affordable models such as Tesla Model 3, the booking of which should start soon. Tesla has been expanding avenues in the self-driving cars apart from bringing new technical capabilities in electric vehicles every year, and currently stands at a market capitalisation of more than $600 billion.
