Elon Musk, who turned 51 on Tuesday, decided to postpone Tesla’s debut in India, and Chinese state media have viewed the decision as a strategic one, saying the electric carmaker is still building on the Indian market for its potential. Keeping an eye on the market. According to a report in the Global Times, the suspension could be used by Tesla as a “business strategy to further promote negotiations”. Musk last month said firmly that Tesla would not produce cars in India unless it was allowed to market and service its electric automobiles.
The Musk team, which was appointed to India last year, has now been diverted to focus on the Middle East and larger Asia-Pacific markets.
Tesla’s policy and business development executive in India and Manuj Khurana, who leads India’s lobbying efforts, has resigned. He was hired in March 2021 and lobbied the Indian government for more than a year to reduce the import tax on electric cars from 100 percent to 40 percent.
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Chinese state media said the suspension of Tesla’s entry plan in India is a typical representation of many multinational enterprises, “reflecting the business environment that needs improvement to win more foreign investment to the South Asian nation”.
“India’s business market environment is still relatively conservative and closed rather than opened, due to rising economic nationalism,” said Liu Zhongyi, general secretary of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies. ,
India is seeking to build an industrial chain with the US under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), “limiting China’s growth in manufacturing and forcing multinational enterprises in China to move to other markets, including India”. The cost of such a move is still high and will not be paid for by the US government”, Liu was quoted as saying.
India is rich in labor resources with affordable low cost, but at present it cannot fully initiate the development of middle and high end industrial chains to boost its exports.
“If India can strengthen industrial chain cooperation with China from a realistic perspective, India will be able to achieve more rapid and stable growth,” Liu told the Global Times.
After Musk confirmed Tesla’s arrival in India, the then Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yediyurappa had announced in February last year that the US-based electric vehicle and clean energy company would set up its production unit in the state.
After this Tesla registered its office in Bangalore. The electric car maker has not yet launched any of its electric cars in India or any other country in South Asia. The only Asian market where Tesla has a presence is in China.
IANS. with inputs