US electric carmaker Tesla is willing to invest up to $2 billion for setting up a local factory if the government approves a concessional duty of 15% on imported vehicles during its first two years of operations in India.
According to sources aware of the matter, Tesla has approached the union government with a detailed proposal linking the quantum of investment to the number of cars it can import at lower duty. The company is willing to invest up to $500 million if the government extends concessional tariff for 12,000 vehicles and can increase this up to $2 billion if the reduced duty is approved for 30,000 vehicles. People close to the development said the government is examining the viability of the upper range of Tesla’s proposal – the investment of $2 billion to set up a plant.
