New Delhi: Tesla Motors will send a team to scout locations in India this month for a proposed USD 2-3 billion electric car plant, Financial Times reported, citing two people with direct knowledge of the electric vehicle company's plans.
This development comes after India lowered tariffs on higher-priced imported EVs last month for companies that commit to making them in the country within three years.
Notably, the tariff cut was a concession Tesla had been pushing for as a precondition for investing, according to FT.
The team is expected to come from the US by late April to study sites for the plant, focusing on states with existing automotive hubs, including Maharashtra and Gujarat in the west and Tamil Nadu in the south, the report stated, citing people with knowledge of Tesla's plans.
Some automakers have plants in the state of Haryana, neighbouring New Delhi, and one of the people said they thought Tesla might also scout potential sites around the capital.
However, the second person said the focus of Elon Musk's company would be on the other three states because they had ports, making it easier to export cars.
Notably, a confirmed Tesla investment would be a major boost for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government ahead of Lok Sabha elections that begin this month, in which its record on business and job creation will be in sharp focus, the Financial Times reported.
During his state visit to the US, PM Modi pushed Elon Musk to invest in India. Following this, Musk said then that the electric car manufacturer would "be in India... as soon as humanly possible."
PM Modi has earmarked billions of dollars worth of government subsidies to promote manufacturing, including in critical industries such as EVs, where India's geopolitical rival China has a strong lead.
