India's Transport Minister Says: India Does Not Welcome Chinese-made Tesla Cars

At the Raisina Dialogue 2022, India's foreign policy and geo-economic conference, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Union, said that Tesla must manufacture vehicles in India before it will be allowed to sell them in the Indian market, while stressing that Chinese-made Tesla cars are not welcome in India.

India's Transport Minister Gadkari said that if Tesla is willing to build cars in India, then India will become an important market for it, and Gadkari believes that India is a huge market with huge potential for pure electric cars. While it is true what the Indian transport minister said, the main constraint to this market right now is still the Indian government's policy, as the Modi government has been emphasizing its "homegrown" policy and continues to prevent all kinds of electric cars from entering the country's market at low prices.

While the Indian transport minister's main request for Tesla remains for it to build the vehicles in India, he also commented on Tesla's import options, with the minister saying he thinks selling Chinese-made Tesla cars in the Indian market is a poor choice: "If he [Elon Musk] wants to build the vehicles in China and sell them in India, then it's not a good proposition for India"

Currently, cars imported as complete manufacturing units are subject to 60% to 100% duty in India, depending on the size and cost of the engine and the value of insurance and freight below or above $40,000, so the cost to the end user will be very high, which directly prevents Tesla's strategy to study the Indian market through import solutions, although some automakers have expressed their interest in the Indian market, but the country's policies have led to some companies to expand the Indian market is still in the draft stage.