Tesla's Gujarat Plant To Be Announced During Vibrant Gujarat Summit

Leading electric vehicle maker Tesla's plans to set up a plant in India is expected to be made public in January during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in the presence of its CEO Elon Musk, as per reports. The Ahmedabad Mirror stated that Gujarat fits in well with Tesla's export-oriented approach which will cater to both domestic and international demand.

Earlier, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu were being considered by the company given the well-established ecosystems for electric vehicles and exports.

Gujarat government's spokesperson Rushikesh Patel Patel on Thursday expressed considerable optimism about that Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, would consider Gujarat for investment, emphasizing the welcoming stance of the government, according to news agency ANI.

Tesla doesn't import cars directly into India because of the high tariffs that are levied. The government had said that there is no proposal to provide subsidy on import duty on imports of electric vehicles into the country, stated the Economic Times report.

Tesla was willing to invest up to $2 billion to set up a local factory in India if the government were to provide a concessional duty of 15 per cent on imported vehicles during its first two years of operations in India, ET had reported in November.

The Indian government wants to cut the number of cars that are imported at a concessional tariff, in comparison to the numbers proposed by Tesla. Tesla was likely to localise up to 20 per cent of the value of made-in-India cars in two years which would increase to around 40 per cent in four years.

India presently levies a 100% import duty on cars with cost, insurance and freight value exceeding $40,000, and 70 per cent duty on vehicles cheaper than that.