Elon Musk seeks relief on imports in India

The race towards India’s ambitious all-electric fleet market is getting stronger every day. Tesla, a brand that's part of every electric vehicle (EV) owner’s wish list, has finally cleared many questions regarding the Indian passenger vehicle market.

A question about Tesla’s India plans posted by Jasveer Singh, co-founder of luxury-chain hotel booking app Qik Stay, had Tesla’s Elon Musk replying, “In discussions with the government of India requesting temporary relief on import penalties/restrictions until a local factory is built.”

With this, Musk not only answered Singh’s query but also portrayed that the Indian EV market can no longer be ignored by any automobile company. This is not the first time that Musk has shown his keenness on his India plans. 

Last month, he had tweeted about local sourcing norms to which the government’s Twitter handle clarified his queries. Anand Mahindra, chairman of the multi-conglomerate Mahindra Group, had also called upon Musk to be part of the Indian EV market in a tweet that said: “Time you got here Elon. You don’t want to leave the whole market to Mahindra do you?  The more the merrier—and greener..!”

It looks like Tesla is keen to start exporting its current models to the Indian market but would also like to set up base for manufacturing its models in the country. Tesla’s optimism about the Indian EV market probably stems from the fact that the government’s think-tank NITI Aayog recently announced its draft report which sees the country attempting to go all-electric by the year 2030.