Tesla CEO Elon Musk has time and again expressed his interest in setting up a base in India
In 2020, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said Tesla would start operations here in early 2021
Tesla registered its India arm in January 2021 and appointed three directors
In 2021 April, it chose Mumbai's Lower Parel to set up its first office in India
However, import duty on cars in India kept bothering Tesla
Rest of 2021 was spent lobbying Indian govt to rejig import duty for fully assembled cars
In 2022, India officially denied making any such changes, suggesting Tesla to set up local assembly plant
After a year of deadlock in plans, the OEM has once again shown interest in India
A group of Tesla officials met PM Modi in May 2023 to discuss local sourcing of components for its plant
In June 2023, PM met Musk during his US visit to discuss avenues to set up EV maker's plant