In a confirmation of Tesla entering India, the company has registered with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) as Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited. As per the RoC of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the company was incorporated in Bengaluru on 8 January 2021. It is classified as a ‘Subsidiary of Foreign Company’, which could be Tesla Inc.
The firm lists Vaibhav Taneja, Venkatrangam Sreeram and David Jon Feinstein as directors. Taneja is the Chief Accounting Officer of Tesla.
According to CNBC-TV18, Tesla is in talks with five state governments – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu – to explore setting up manufacturing, R&D centres and has hired a global consulting firm for the same.
A Karnataka government official had told the business channel that the state was interested in inviting Tesla and had already given the company location options for different segments.
The report also states that the company, founded by Elon Musk, who is the second richest man in the world, will first launch its fully electric Model 3 Sedan in the country, which would be priced around Rs 60 lakh.
Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, had confirmed in December that Tesla was coming to India in early 2021 and would first start off with sales, and then look at assembly and manufacturing based on the response it received.
This comes after Elon Musk himself had said in October that the process of bringing Tesla cars to India would begin in January 2021, in response to Tesla Club India asking if there was an Indian team working on Tesla scheduled entry.
(This story was first published in The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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