Making Tesla cars in India will be best investment: Poonawalla woos Elon Musk

While Tesla registered its Indian arm in Bengaluru more than a year ago, the wait for its electric cars to arrive in India is still on. The government has been encouraging the electric vehicle giant to establish local manufacturing in the country and now Serum Institute of India's (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla is trying to woo Tesla CEO Elon Musk to invest in India to manufacture Tesla electric cars, saying it will be the best investment he would have ever made.

Musk has in the past asked India to reduce import duties to sell Tesla electric cars but the government has insisted on local manufacturing. In his Twitter post, tagging Musk, Poonawalla said, "... just in case you don't end up buying @Twitter, do look at investing some of that capital in INDIA for high-quality large-scale manufacturing of @Tesla cars." He added, "I assure you this will be the best investment you'll ever make."

Last month, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had said that if Tesla was ready to manufacture its electric vehicles in India then there was 'no problem' but the company must not import cars from China. In August last year, Musk had said that the electric vehicle maker Tesla may set up its manufacturing unit in India if it first succeeds with imported vehicles in the country.

He had added that though Tesla wanted to launch its vehicles in India, the country's “import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country". Currently, 100 per cent import duty is imposed here on fully imported cars with CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) value more than $40,000 and 60 per cent on those costing less than the amount. Tesla had requested for a standardization of the tariff on electric cars to 40 per cent, irrespective of the customs value.

(with inputs from PTI)