Join 'Make in India' to enjoy lower import duty on electric vehicles: Centre to Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk had previosuly pointed out that import taxes on electric vehicles in India are the highest in the world. 

New Delhi: The Indian government may consider Telsa’s request for lowering the import taxes in India if the electric vehicle major starts to invest in setting up a manufacturing facility in the country. Previously, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk had urged the Centre to reduce import duty in electric vehicles, as the firm wants to bring its latest electric vehicles as completely built units initially before looking at its assembly and manufacturing in India. Musk had pointed out that import taxes on electric vehicles in India are the highest in the world. "We want to do so, but import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country!" he had said while responding to a tweet urging him to launch Tesla’s electric vehicles in India as soon as possible. "Moreover, clean energy vehicles are treated the same as diesel or petrol, which does not seem entirely consistent with the climate goals of India," he added. At present, India imposes a 60 per cent tax on imported cars priced below $40,000 and 100% on cars priced more than $40,000.