The path to the Indian market has once again become difficult for Elon Musk’s Tesla. In fact, even though Tesla and other global automakers are not interested in the new EV policy implemented to promote electric vehicles, the government is in no mood to make any changes to it. A government official clearly stated that the EV policy parameters would remain the same for all companies. The new electric vehicle policy was announced in March this year to attract foreign electric vehicle manufacturing companies to India.
An official from the Ministry of Heavy Industries told Moneycontrol that the eligibility criteria and other conditions would remain the same for automakers who intend to avail the benefits of the existing EV policy. We are not concerned if Tesla or any other automaker has not requested this policy. We will not change the EV policy based on any particular company. Efforts are being made to improve it. After this statement, the path for Tesla’s electric cars to get additional discounts or other benefits in the Indian market seems closed.
The officer said our position was clear. You can import cars with reduced taxes, provided you make new investments in an electric vehicle manufacturing plant in India. In March, the government announced a new electric vehicle policy to attract companies like Tesla, under which it provided an exemption to reduce import duties on some electric cars by up to 15% for 5 years. For this, the company was subject to the condition of creating an electric vehicle manufacturing plant within 3 years. However, no details regarding the factory have yet been provided by Tesla.