Piyush Goyal, recently visited the manufacturing facility of American electric vehicle giant, Tesla, in Fremont, California.During the visit, Goyal announced that the company would be doubling itsimports of auto components from India. Goyal is currently on a four-day visit to the United States.
In June, Tesla (world’s largest electric car producer) CEO Elon Musk met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York, where Musk expressed his plans to visit India in 2024.
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During his visit to Tesla’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, Goyal expressed his delight in witnessing the contribution of talented Indian engineers and finance professionals who hold senior positions at Tesla. He also highlighted the growing importance of Indian auto component suppliers in Tesla’s electric vehicle supply chain. Goyal mentioned that Tesla is on track to double its imports of auto components from India. He also expressed his wishes for Musk’s speedy recovery, as the CEO was unable to meet him during the visit.
“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. Also proud to see the growing importance of auto component suppliers from India in the Tesla EV supply chain. It is on its way to double its components imports from India. Missed Mr @ElonMusk’s magnetic presence and I wish him a speedy recovery,” Goyal posted on social media platform X, which is also owned by Elon Musk.
This visit comes amidst reports that India is considering providing customs duty concessions to Tesla, as the company explores the possibility of setting up a manufacturing plant in the country. Goyal had previously stated that Tesla aims to source components worth around $1.9 billion from India this year, compared to $1 billion in 2022. The demand for electric vehicles is expected to increase, thereby driving growth in the sector.
The Indian government had earlier clarified that it does not plan to create a separate policy to incentivize Tesla. Instead, the company can apply for support measures under existing schemes such as the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) for the automotive and advanced chemistry cell sectors. The government has already introduced PLI schemes for advanced chemistry cell battery storage and auto, auto-components, and drone industries, with budgets of Rs 18,100 crore and Rs 26,058 crore, respectively.
Regarding the high import duties on fully imported cars in India, Goyal previously stated that the government aims to provide equal opportunities to all companies without any differentiation or preferences. The government plans to introduce a policy that will address this issue.
Musk had previously expressed Tesla’s interest in setting up a manufacturing unit in India, but noted that the country has the highest import duties in the world for large countries. Currently, India imposes a 100% import duty on fully imported cars with a CIF value exceeding $40,000 and 70% on those costing less than that amount.
