Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari visited the Tesla headquarters near San Francisco on Saturday on his visit to the US.
Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is pulling out all stops to woo Tesla Motors to India. Gadkari, who is in the US currently, visited the Tesla factory near San Francisco on Friday.
Speaking to senior Tesla officials, Gadkari envisaged India as the electric carmaker's manufacturing hub in Asia. While speaking to the minister, Tesla officials said, "their manufacturing hub has to be outside the US for markets in rest of the world and appreciated the Indian offer of cooperation which they said will certainly be considered at the appropriate time in future," a statement on PIB said.
In a bid to woo Tesla, Gadkari offered them land at major ports to facilitate exports of its vehicles to South and South East Asian countries. Apart from this, Gadkari also offered to promote joint ventures between the global leaders in electric car manufacturing and the Indian automobile companies.
India's offer to Tesla Motors comes less than a month after the electric car manufacturing major is said to have picked Shanghai for its first plant outside the US. According to a Bloomberg report on June 24, 2016, Tesla signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Jinqiao Group, a Shanghai government-owned company to build production facilities there.
According to the report, each party may invest $4.5 billion (approximately Rs 30,000 crore), taking the total investment to about $9 billion (nearly Rs 60,000 crore).
Tesla, which considers India an important market, especially for its next-generation low-cost sustainable Model 3, inquired about subsidies for electric vehicles in India. Gadkari has requested the company's senior officials to outline their proposals for entry into the Indian market.
Even as the Indian automobile industry gears up to leapfrog from Bharat State IV emission norms to Bharat Stage VI norms by 2022, the government is eyeing making India the first country of its size to be a 100% electic vehicle nation.
"India can become the first country of its size which will run 100% of electric vehicles," Power Minister Piyush Goyal had said in May. The government is working on a scheme to extend a zero down payment offer to potential electric vehicle customers.
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 "Nitin Gadkari at the Tesla factory near San Francisco")
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