While the arrival of Tesla in India has been highly anticipated, the wait for the popular electric vehicles from the company might be longer due to the high import duty in the region.
According to a TimesNowNews report, the high import duty is one of the primary reasons why the American automobile maker hasn’t entered the Indian market. While it is possible to simply import a car from the company’s Gigafactory in China, the duty would make the car’s price surge, making it less viable in the market. So, the only way to avoid this would mean manufacturing and assembling the cars locally under the Indian government’s EV scheme.
At the moment, the Tesla Model 3 is one of the most affordable models from the company and is offered for a price of around 39,990 USD in the US (roughly 3,000,000 INR or 30 Lakhs). However, the Model 3 in India could reach prices as high as 60 lakhs in the region due to the import duties. This could make the affordable model be too expensive for the local market. As per industry experts, these import duties on fully imported cars to India are a great concern to Elon Musk.
As of right now, India leview a 100 percent tax on the imported cars that are priced over 40,000 USD inclusive of insurance and shipping expenses. Meanwhile, cars priced less than the 40,000 USD mark only have a 60 percent import tax. According to a Counterpoint Research analyst, “Musk has also criticized the government policies for electric vehicles (EV), as they attract the same import tariffs as for petrol and diesel cars.”
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