Featured image: @narendramodi/Twitter
In the past few weeks, Tesla's potential arrival in India has been an especially hot topic. And now, the government of the country is offering comprehensive support to Tesla to develop itself in the local market and for the potential construction of a manufacturing unit.
On September 21, it became known that Tesla is in talks with the industry department of the Karnataka state government to set up a research and development (R&D) center in Bangalore to harness the potential of India's tech capital.
“The first proposal is for an R&D center and we have already had at least two rounds of discussions," said one official from the department, requesting not to be named. He also said that Tesla's head of India and Karnataka State Commissioner for Industry meet again later this month.
Tesla Negotiating with Karnataka Government to Establish R&D Center in Bangalore https://t.co/ukoYERrKiC
— Tesmanian.com (@Tesmanian_com) September 21, 2020
Gaurav Gupta, principal secretary of Karnataka’s commerce and industries department, offered government support for the establishment of Tesla's R&D center as well as a manufacturing unit, although he did not elaborate on what that might mean.
“We have offered them (Tesla) all support to set up a research and development center as well as the manufacturing unit.”
He also emphasized that Bangalore has a favorable ecosystem for electric vehicles to take advantage of. “Bengaluru has a favorable ecosystem for electric vehicles and Tesla can leverage on that,” reported The Economic Times.
The talks were preliminary and “it is going to be a long-drawn process. We are at it and we will keep the sustained dialogue going,” Gupta said. “We have briefed them about how Bengaluru is home to promising EV startups and also component makers and the advantages we offer.”
Currently, India is building up its electric vehicle charging infrastructure, as it hopes to increasingly move toward sustainable energy and transport. However, analysts believe that expectations of a large Tesla entry into the Indian market should be muted due to the cost of the car, as well as the lack of infrastructure for electric vehicles in the country.
© 2020, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
