Tesla To Set Up India’s First Manufacturing Unit In Karnataka, Says Yediyurappa

U.S.-based electric car giant Tesla would set up its manufacturing unit in Karnataka, Chief Minister of the state BS Yediyurappa said on Saturday.

“American firm Tesla will set up the car-manufacturing unit in Karnataka,” the Chief Minister said, according to a PTI report.

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk had confirmed the electric car company’s debut in India on Jan. 14. "As promised," Musk tweeted in response to a thread linked to a blog that analysed how India could be a market to be developed for Tesla cars despite its high prices.

According to a regulatory filing, the firm has registered Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt. Ltd. with Registrar of Companies Bangalore.

However, India may a difficult market for Musk to crack. Although India is Asia’s third-biggest economy and home to a budding middle class, it hasn’t rolled out the welcome mat for EVs, unlike neighbor China, where Tesla set up its first factory outside of the U.S. and now dominates electric-car sales. EVs account for about 5% of China’s annual car sales, according to BloombergNEF, compared to less than 1% in India.

Still, the Indian EV market is growing and could be worth almost $206 billion in the coming decade, according to a study by the CEEW Centre for Energy Finance, which noted an investment of more than $180 billion would be required by 2030 to achieve that.