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Elon Musk’s Tesla is ready to enter the Indian market. This is one of the most anticipated moves that vehicle enthusiasts have been expecting for a long time. The rumor of Musk eyeing the Indian market to expand its operations has been in the air for a long time. However, no such signal was ever made before the high-profile meeting between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Following this meeting, new steps have been taken indicating this entry.
Tesla is leading the electric vehicle market globally. So, Musk’s target of entering India is completely understandable. However, prior to the landmark meeting between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there was no assurance of Tesla coming to India, but following that, the company has signaled its intent with a clear move.
On Monday, February 17, Tesla posted 13 job vacancies on its official LinkedIn profile. These job listings range from customer handling to administrative work. Excitingly, these jobs are scattered across the big cities of India, including Mumbai, Delhi, etc. With Tesla entering the Indian market, it will strengthen the Indian government’s campaign for clean energy solutions.
In recent times, India has shifted to a lower import duty on luxury vehicles. The duty is reduced from 110% to 70% for EVs priced over $40,000. It looks like this is the prime reason behind Elon Musk’s company finally starting its operations in India. The Indian market hasn’t yet adopted the EV technology, so Tesla’s entry will set a mark and bring a much-required alternative to the traditional fossil-fuel-powered cars.
Though it looks like Tesla is just fulfilling its long-held wish with this entry, there are other factors to consider. The Indian market is one of the largest markets that Tesla has been missing for years. Aside from that, this entry is strategically timed to maintain the growth of the company. In recent times, the sales trend of Tesla has been going downward only. So, India can be the best option for capitalizing on these declining sales and boosting growth.
That’s not all; there’s another angle that also contributed to this entry. The Modi-Musk meeting has raised topics of broader economic and trade deals, where even the discussion addressed the US’s F-35 fighter jets. Of course, Tesla and SpaceX were the main things, but Musk’s entry into the Indian market may have a wider geopolitical angle as well, considering the Tesla CEO is a close friend of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The job listing, the reduction of duty fee, indicates that Tesla is setting its base to enter India, but it isn’t going to happen overnight. The process has just begun; it will take time to start the full-phase operations.
