Karnataka will go to any extent to house Tesla’s new ventures: Ashwath Narayan

Will be happy to offer Elon Musk fullest support: Minister

The Karnataka Government is willing to go to “any extent” to accommodate Elon Musk and his future plans to start Tesla’s electric car production activities in India, said C.N Ashwath Narayan, Minister for Science and Technology, Higher Education & Information Technology, Biotechnology.

The Minister told The Hindu: “Whenever Mr. Musk is ready to set up a manufacturing facility in India, Karnataka will be happy and keen to offer him our fullest cooperation and support.’‘ The Minister further said, Bengaluru already has Tesla, the EV major’s maiden address in the country, with it setting up a research and development facility here, in January last year.

Tesla had earlier requested the Union Government to withdraw the social welfare surcharge of 10% on electric cars, seeking a cut in import duty.Mr. Musk also put out tweets suggesting taxation changes to clear Tesla’s import way to India. Tesla chief had tweeted that he was still working through a lot of challenges with the Government for setting up manufacturing unit for his Tesla electric cars in India.

Telangana Industry and Commerce Minister K.T. Rama Rao was quick to respond and sent out an invitation toMr. Musk tweeting: “Will be happy to partner with Tesla in working through the challenges to set shop in India/Telangana.’‘Interestingly, senior Ministers from Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu too have extended invitations to Mr. Musk on Twitter to set up Tesla manufacturing plant in their States. Karnataka, the tech flagbearer of the country, seemed to have joined the list offline.

“Karnataka is home-away-from-home for most American companies already. Bengaluru is a hub ofFortune 500 companies. Companies like Tesla, probably, will not look anywhere else, but Bengaluru,” Mr. Narayan hoped, adding, “More so, Karnataka’s industrial policies are the most attractive and best in the country.”Karnataka is the first State in the country to have an electric vehicle policy and subsequently an EV ecosystem is nowgetting developed in the State, as per Mr. Narayan.