Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal visited electric vehicle (EV) major Tesla’s manufacturing facility in the U.S. and said the world’s largest EV maker would be doubling imports from India.
The visit comes amid reports that India is considering customs duty concessions to Tesla for setting up a plant in the country.
“Visited @Tesla’s state of the art manufacturing facility at Fremont, California. Extremely delighted to see talented Indian engineers and finance professionals working at senior positions and contributing to Tesla’s remarkable journey to transform mobility,” the minister posted on X (Twitter), a social media platform also owned by Tesla’s founder Elon Musk.
Demand for EVs will increase and imports from India will enable the sector’s growth, the Minister said. The government had earlier said it is not considering a separate incentive for Tesla, and that the company can apply for measures under existing Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for auto and advanced chemistry cells.
Elon Musk met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June in New York and said that he planned to visit India in 2024.
In August 2021, Musk said Tesla might set up a manufacturing unit in India if it succeeded in importing its vehicles into the country. India imposes 100% import duty on fully imported cars with CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) value more than $40,000 and 70% on those costing less than the amount.
Four-day U.S. visit
Mr. Goyal is in the U.S. on a four-day visit beginning Nov 13, to attend the third in-person Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) meeting and engagements of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
He met with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to discuss boosting trade ties.
Exports to the U.S. have come down to $38.28 billion during April-September 2023, from $41.49 billion a year ago. Imports also declined to $21.39 billion during the first six months of the current fiscal, compared with $25.79 billion in the same period last fiscal.
Mr. Goyal also met his Korean and Singaporean counterparts.
