Company Outsider: Sajjan Jindal’s doubts about Tesla’s entry miss the potential catfish effect for Indian auto
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The "catfish effect", named after the practice of adding catfish to tanks of cod to keep them active during transportation, describes how a strong competitor can energize a stagnant market. Tesla’s entry into India could be just the jolt the country's electric vehicle (EV) industry needs.
In business, the effect is clearly visible in the runaway success of Chinese electric vehicle companies barely six years after Tesla set up a wholly-owned Gigafactory in Shanghai with generous incentives from the government. Today, China produces more than 60% of the world's electric cars and 80% of the batteries that power them. What's more, in 2024 Chinese company BYD delivered 1.777 million EVs, ahead of Tesla’s 1.774 million.
Significantly, this shift in the global EV business happened not because the Chinese government banned Tesla from the country but because it welcomed the company with billions of dollars in incentives by way of cheap land, loans, tax breaks and subsidies. Which is why JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal's recent remark that Tesla's entry into India’s electric vehicle (EV) market will not be easy, isn’t just wishful thinking, it may also be off the mark in terms of what the move could mean for Indian industry. Indeed, the implied aversion to an MNC betrays a familiar insularity but also misses the opportunities that it offers.
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