Tesla will send a team to scout locations in India this month for a proposed $2 to $3 bn electric car plant, according to two people with direct knowledge of the company’s plans.
The step towards making vehicles in India comes after New Delhi lowered tariffs last month on higher-priced imported electric vehicles for companies that pledged to make them inside the country within three years.
The tariff cut was a concession for which Tesla had been pushing as a condition for investing.
The people with knowledge said it would send a team from the US by late April to study sites, focusing on states with existing automotive hubs, including Maharashtra and Gujarat in the west and Tamil Nadu in the south.
A confirmed Tesla investment would be a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the general election that begins this month. The government’s record on business and job creation will be in sharp focus during campaigning. Modi pushed Musk to invest in India when the two met during a visit to the US last year. Musk said then that the electric-car manufacturer would “be in India . . . as soon as humanly possible”.
