India Really Wants A Tesla Factory, But Musk Is Far From Convinced

BY Brad Anderson | Posted on

Like many other countries, India wants Tesla to build a factory on its shores. However, Elon Musk is yet to be convinced, citing tough regulations in a recent tweet.

Taking to Twitter, Musk wrote: “Would love to be in India. Some challenging government regulations, unfortunately”. The outspoken chief executive went on to suggest that Tesla will launch in the country when the firm’s Indian chief financial officer Deepak Ahuja believes it is the right time.

Bloomberg reports that Musk had discussions with the Indian government last year and wanted a temporary waiver of import penalties and other restrictions until a local factory was built.

Tesla is eyeing off a global production expansion

The Indian government is attempting to lure companies like Tesla to its shores on a number of fronts. For starters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims that “more than 1,400 archaic laws that were an obstacle to doing business have been abolished.” Additionally, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is leading the charge in revising India’s tax structure to encourage the sale of environmentally-friendly vehicles.

While Tesla doesn’t appear any closer to opening a factory in India, it is thought to be on the verge of announcing a huge Gigafactory to be located in Shanghai. Earlier this month, the automaker established Tesla Shanghai Co. Ltd as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tesla’s Hong Kong division. If a Gigafactory is built in China, it will manufacturer both batteries and cars.

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