Tesla announced last year that they will start operations in India from this year but the government is not making things easy for the Electronic Vehicle company to kickstart their sales.
Recently Elon Musk’s tweeted that import taxes are high in India and that Tesla S Plaid cars will be brought to India if they are reduced has not yet subsided. Which is the major reason why the company is struggling to start their operations.
Indian government officials and industrialists continue to respond to Elon Musk’s tweet. A recent announcement by a senior government official has left Elon Musk in a quandary.
Tesla has previously asked the Indian government to not recognize the electric car as a luxury car and reduce import taxes by considering it as a pollution-reducing electric car.
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The Economic Times quoted a senior government official as saying that the government was ready to reduce the import tax as requested by Tesla but that the company would set up a car manufacturing unit in the country. “The discount does not apply to a single Tesla company, but to the entire sector,” he said.
The government imposes an import duty of 60 percent on luxury cars imported from abroad with a price of less than $ 40,000. One hundred percent tax is levied if the price of the car exceeds that. At present, the price of a Tesla S Plaid car is over a crore rupees in our currency. The price of this car will cross two crores if import duty is included. Hence the Tesla Company is seeking a tax deduction.
Tesla Company has opened a car manufacturing unit in Germany and China outside the United States. The strategy is to import and sell cars made in those units to India.
That is why tax concessions have been negotiated. Tesla owner Elon Musk has been told by India that they would look into the issue of tax exemption if the American EV company sets up a manufacturing unit in India rather than importing the cars.
Tesla fans have been waiting for years to get their hands on the electronic vehicle but due to the tough government rules and regulations, the delay is prolonging.
It is unknown what Elon Musk’s new move will be to reduce the import duty.
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