High import taxes prevent Tesla from selling cars in India

Robert Besser
18 May 2022, 01:36 GMT+10

Tesla made known this week that it will not sell electric automobiles in India due to the government's refusal to reduce high import tariffs on foreign electric vehicles.
Tesla has begun to reassign local employees, as it closes down its earlier plans to enter the Indian market.
As early as the summer of 2021, the Indian government announced that they were reviewing a Tesla proposal to reduce import duties.

NEW DELHI, India: Tesla made known this week that it will not sell electric automobiles in India due to the government's refusal to reduce high import tariffs on foreign electric vehicles.

Tesla has begun to reassign local employees, as it closes down its earlier plans to enter the Indian market.

India remains the largest auto market that Tesla has yet to enter.

Signs between the Indian government and Tesla indicated that the electric automaker might, at last, begin selling autos in India. But those efforts have now ended.

Earlier, Tesla created an Indian company in Bengaluru, the capital of India's southern Karnataka state. As early as the summer of 2021, the Indian government announced that they were reviewing a Tesla proposal to reduce import duties.

While Tesla has said it would like to build a factory to manufacture electric vehicles in India, its business model includes first testing the market with imported EV's, which it has been unable to do in India.

Insiders report that Tesla waged a strong lobbying campaign to have tariffs reduced.

In April, transport minister Nitin Gadkari said that Tesla could build a factory in India, but would be prevented from importing autos from China.

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