Tesla Inc., the world renowned maker of luxury electric cars led by CEO Elon Musk, is finally trying to spread its legs in India. The company announced its arrival in the country earlier this year (through Musk’s Twitter, of course), and ever since then, there has been radio silence. However, it looks like things are in motion again, as a report from Bloomberg claims that Tesla is currently on the lookout for people to take up senior level roles in the country, including a Head of Sales and Marketing, and a Head of Human Resources (HR).
Additionally, it is also being said Manuj Khurana, a former executive from Invest India, has been roped in to facilitate the business efforts of the firm. Other reports hold that the company has also hired a Charging Manager for managing the destination charging, supercharging, and home charging business of the company. Moreover, a Tesla Fan club claimed that a senior legal counsel has been onboarded as well.
That’s not all, for it has been reported that Prashanth Menon, a veteran at Tesla, has been elevated to country CEO.
In a bid to set up plants and showrooms in India, the auto giant is also seeking commercial properties, which could be as large as 20,000 to 30,000 square feet each. The company is looking to establish a presence in major metropolitan cities in the country, including New Delhi (where service centers and showrooms will apparently be set up), Mumbai (for a financial hub), and Bengaluru (where the plans include settings up a whole tech city).
This come as the Central Government has been slowly but steadily promoting electric cars. It has announced changes to the Goods and Sales Tax (GST), which might work to reduce the expenses that come with owning when one wishes to own an electric vehicle, something that could very much affect Tesla.
Additionally, a production-linked incentive fund worth a whopping sum sum ₹18,000 crore has also been set up by the Centre, for manufacturing chemical batteries. Under the scheme, the government plans to set up a manufacturing capacity of 50 GWh, for developing chemistry cell batteries. Investments totaling up to ₹45,000 crore are invited for the same.
News that Tesla would soon be making a grand entry in India was first announced by Musk himself, back in January this year. The tech mogul had tweeted a response to reports that the automobile company was in talks with multiple states to open offices here in India, saying “as promised”.
Shortly after, in February, the company announced that Karnataka had been chosen as the location for the first Tesla plant in the country.
