News Brief
Tesla Officials Meet With Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal To Discuss India Plans
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal (Pic Via Twitter)
India's Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal, held a closed-door meeting with senior executives from Tesla last week to discuss the carmaker's plans for establishing a manufacturing plant in India.
According to reports, the meeting aimed to explore the potential of producing a low-cost electric vehicle (EV) priced at $24,000, which would be around 25% cheaper than Tesla's current entry model.
The objective is to cater to both the Indian market and export.
During their visit to India, Tesla's senior public policy and business development executive, Rohan Patel, and the vice president for supply chain, Roshan Thomas, also met officials from the Invest India agency. This meeting, however, was not as high-profile as their discussion with Minister Goyal.
It is worth noting that Tesla CEO Elon Musk had previously met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June in New York, expressing his interest in making significant investments in India.
The meeting with Goyal took place in a New Delhi hotel, where Tesla executives met the minister privately, accompanied by at least one other government official.
Reportedly, the meetings between Tesla and Indian officials are being kept confidential, with Prime Minister Modi and his top officials closely monitoring the progress of the talks.
On July 24, there were reports of the planned meeting between Tesla and Goyal, which aimed to discuss land allotment for a plant and the establishment of an EV supply chain.
During the meeting, Tesla and Goyal discussed the company's plans, according to reports.
Notably, as reported earlier, the proposed factory aims to produce an affordable electric vehicle (EV) priced at $24,000 for both domestic sales and exports.
However, the escalating tensions between India and China had complicated Tesla's plans, as the EV giant seeks to involve Chinese suppliers in its Indian venture.
To navigate this challenge, the Indian government has advised Tesla to follow Apple's example in finding local partners to collaborate with any Chinese suppliers involved in the project.
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