‘Looking forward to meeting with PM Modi’: Elon Musk confirms visit to India

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Tesla chief Elon Musk to meet PM Modi during India visit from April 22, announce investment plans As per the Hindu Businessline report, Tesla has been scouting for a local partner to establish an EV unit in India. Citing sources, the English daily said, Tesla is in talks with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RIL) to form a joint venture to set up a EV facility in the country. Besides, Financial Times earlier this month reported that Elon Musk had sent a team to India in April to scout for sites for a proposed $2 billion to $3 billion electric car plant.

Elon Musk's Tesla in talks with Reliance to set up Indian operations As per Reuters, Tesla recently began production of right-hand drive cars at its factory in Germany for export to India later this year. Recently Musk also wrote on X, "India should have electric cars like every other country has electric cars. It's a natural progression to provide Tesla electric vehicles in India".

Musk will be visiting India after India has lowered import taxes to 15% from 100% on some models if a manufacturer invests at least $500 million and sets up a factory too. Elon Musk's Tesla witnessed a sharp drop in sales in the first quarter of 2024 as competition in the electric vehicle market has intensified worldwide. Tesla delivered 386,810 vehicles from January through March, almost 9% below the 423,000 it sold during the same period last year.

India's EV market to grow 66% in 2024, likely to represent nearly one-third of PV sales by 2030 Meanwhile, Chinese EV players are ramping up competition with Tesla using new technologies in the US and other markets. In January this year, China's BYD surpassed Tesla s the world’s top-selling electric carmaker. Backed by US investment