At Raisina Dialogue 2022, India's Foreign Policy and Geoeconomic Conference, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Of India, said that Tesla must produce vehicles in India to allow it to sell vehicles in the Indian market, while stressing that Chinese-made Tesla vehicles are not welcome to be sold in India.
Indian Transport Minister Gadkarri said: If Tesla is willing to manufacture cars in India, then India will become an important market for it, Andka believes that India is a huge market, and the development potential of pure electric vehicles is huge. While what India's transport minister said is true, the main constraint on this market is still the policy of the Indian government, which has been emphasizing its "domestic" policy and continues to prevent various electric vehicles from entering the country market at low prices.
While India's transport minister's main requirement for Tesla to make vehicles in India remains, he also offered his views on Tesla's import options, saying he sees selling Chinese-made Tesla cars in the Indian market as a bad choice: "If he [Elon Musk] wants to build vehicles in China and sell them in India, then this is not a good proposal for India."
At present, cars imported as complete manufacturing units are subject to tariffs of 60% to 100% in India, depending on the size and cost of the engine, as well as the insurance and freight value below or above $40,000, so the cost of end-user car purchase will be very high, which also directly prevents Tesla from studying the strategy of the Indian market through import programs, although some car manufacturers have expressed their attention to the Indian market. However, the plans of some enterprises to expand the Indian market due to the country's policies are still in the draft stage.