Union Heavy Industries Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that Tesla is not planning to build electric vehicles in India. The company is currently considering only opening showrooms in the country and selling imported cars. However, he said that global EV manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen-Skoda, Hyundai and Kia have shown interest in applying under the Ministry’s major plan to promote manufacturing of electric passenger cars in India notified in March last year.
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In February, US President Donald Trump criticized Tesla’s expansion plan in India and described it as unfair to the US. He had said that now, if (CEO Alan Musk of Tesla) make a factory in India, it is fine, but it is unfair to us. it’s so unfair. Trump has since raised a similar objection to Apple’s expansion plans in India. The Ministry of Heavy Industries on Monday also issued detailed guidelines under the EV manufacturing scheme and will soon issue a notice to invite online applications.
Under this scheme, approved applicants will have to invest a minimum of Rs 4,150 crore to produce EVs at the domestic level with domestic price promotion (DVA) goals. In return, they will be eligible to import a maximum of 8,000 fully built electric four wheelers (CBUs) per year, which will have a minimum import price of $ 35,000 and will have a 15 percent less customs duty rate for a five -year period. The scheme is limited to global manufacturers, whose revenue is at least Rs 10,000 crore per year, and whose price of immovable property is minimum Rs 3,000 crore.