To avail the tax exemptions, the companies will have to invest at least Rs 41.5 billion and make the cars in India within just three years.
Media reports now surfaced that EV giant Tesla sends a team in India to find appropriate locations for setting-up a new plant in the country at an investment of $2bn-43bn. People familiar with the matter told the media that after the government reduced the tariffs on EVs imported, Tesla had taken this decision.
Rajesh Kumar Singh, the industry secretary, has requested Tesla to set-up its new plant in India. In an effort to grow the EV industry in the nation, a new policy has been formulated where import duty of 15 percent has been lowered for EVs imported as a completely built unit (CBU), from the present 70% to 100% applicable for vehicles imported in CBU form, according to the Hindu. Secretary Singh said, “We will help them out in terms of giving them the contacts at state level. There have been contacts made at that level with state governments and the central government. VinFast has already announced and we expect a few others."
The Vietnam based EV maker VinFast has announced its new plan to set-up a new manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu. Additionally, Tesla is also looking forward to procuring auto components from India worth $15 billion. Elon Musk has been urging the government for years to reduce tariffs on imported vehicles before announcing its new investment plans in the country.
To avail the tax exemptions, the companies will have to invest at least Rs 41.5 billion and commence making the cars in India within just three years. "We expect it to lead to a penetration of four-wheeler electric vehicles to at least 10% by 2030. My view is that if we have these manufacturing units up and running, along with the battery infrastructure that is now going up, it should be closer to 15% by 2030, after which it will just snowball,” Singh further added.
