Elon Musk India visit: Days ahead of tech billionaire Elon Musk's India visit, an advisor representing Tesla, the electric car manufacturer, participated in a stakeholders' meeting focused on India's newly formulated Electric Vehicles policy on Thursday, sources said.
"It was a stakeholder consultation meeting seeking inputs for the guidelines to be framed for the new EV manufacturing policy. Tesla was represented by its advisor, The Asia Group (TAG). Vietnam's electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast was also present in the meeting," a senior official said.
As per the sources, the stakeholders' meeting on India's Electric Vehicles policy saw the presence of representatives from key Indian manufacturers such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata, Mahindra, Kia, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, and Renault. Additionally, representatives from luxury car makers including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi were also in attendance.
During the meeting, officials from the Heavy Industries Ministry delivered a presentation outlining the specifics of the new Electric Vehicles policy.
According to an official, the participants primarily focused on gaining a deeper understanding of the policy details. The meeting was characterized more by consultation rather than immediate commitments to future investments.
Elon Musk to meet PM Modi in India
Tesla CEO and owner of X is set to arrive in India later in April and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while he is also expected to make a major announcement on plans to invest and open a new factory in the country. Musk will meet PM Modi in the week of April 22 in New Delhi and will separately make an announcement about his plans in India.
Why Tesla is planning to invest heavily in the Indian market?
Tesla is grappling with slower growth for electric vehicles in both its main markets of the United States and China. Reuters reported this month that Tesla has cancelled a long-promised inexpensive car that investors have been counting on to drive mass market growth. Demand for electric cars in India - the world's third-largest auto market - is expected to rapidly climb. EVs made up just 2% of India's total car sales in 2023, but the government has said it wants 30% of all new car sales to be electric from 2030.
(With PTI inputs)
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