Elon Musk Is 'Working on Challenges With Government' To Bring Tesla in India

High import taxes and disagreements over a local factory led to an impasse with the Modi government.

Elon Musk, the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla Inc. 

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Tesla's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk said on Thursday, 13 January, that the company is still working on challenges with the Indian government to launch electric cars in the country.

Musk tweeted, “Still working through a lot of challenges with the government,” in response to a question by an Indian user on Twitter asking if the company had any plans of launching Tesla in India.

Tesla CEO Musk and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration have been in talks since 2019, however high import taxes of as much as 100 percent and disagreements over a local factory have led to an impasse.

Musk has demanded lower taxes so that Tesla can start off by selling imported vehicles at a cheaper price in a budget-conscious market.

The government had also asked Musk to ramp up local procurement and export its electric vehicles from India itself instead of manufacturing from China-based factories.

In January last year, Musk had started registrations of Tesla in Bengaluru.

(With inputs from Bloomberg.)