Ever since transport minister Nitin Gadkari signaled the arrival of Tesla in India last month, avid fans have been waiting for an official announcement. Now, it looks like that may have finally arrived, as regulatory filings show that Tesla has filed for a subsidiary company in Bengaluru.
According to a Registrar of Companies (RoC) filing, Tesla has registered for an Indian entity under the name of Tesla Motors India and Energy Private Limited, which will be classified as a subsidiary of a foreign company. The filings have also named Vaibhav Taneja, Venkatrangam Sreeram and David Jon Feinstein as the directors of this new branch of Tesla.
However, it is still unknown what the company plans to do in the country. That being said, it is certainly a step in the right direction, and might lead to Tesla cars becoming a common sighting on Indian roads.
This comes just a month after India’s transport minister claimed that the EV maker would start operations in India in early 2021. The Indian government has been making a push to expand the EV sector of the country, which still heavily relies in fossil fuels for most of its transportation related needs.
A lot of Indian car manufacturers have started producing electric vehicles, but up until now, the biggest player in the market-Tesla, was absent from the playing field. With the Cupertino giant finally entering in India, the country’s EV sector is expected to see a boom.
Apart from the registration of the new entity, Tesla has also registered its office in Lavelle Road, with paid-up capital of ₹1 lakh and an authorized capital of ₹15 lakh.
However, today’s news is in stark contrast to an earlier report, which stated that Tesla might be looking to build up an R&D center in the Southern state of India.
“We have been interacting with Tesla for the last few months and it is happy news that they have decided to incorporate their company here. We have impressed upon them that Bengaluru is not only the technology capital but also the aerospace and space capital. For any kind of technology collaboration, it has the right kind of talent pool,” Gaurav Gupta, principal secretary, commerce & industries of Karnataka said.
