Electric cars giant, Tesla Inc will begin operations in India early next year, according to the country’s transport minister, Nitin Gadkari, who made the statement in an interview he granted a national newspaper, the Indian Express on Monday.

The electric-car maker will commence its India rollout by first having a dealership in the country and then it may consider a more active presence via vehicle assembly and manufacturing, based on the initial feedback from the first stage, the minister told the newspaper.

Tesla is yet to make any definitive statement on the issue and it is unclear whether the Minister was speaking on the basis of advanced talks with the electric car maker. Also, the Minister’s office is yet to put out any statement concerning the matter.

India has been very keen to drastically scale down its reliance on oil to meet its growing energy and transportation needs, as well as reduce its carbon footprint by cutting down on pollution, but the plan to promote electric cars as an alternative, have been slowed down by a lack of investments in manufacturing and infrastructure such as charging stations.

The first electric car model to be launched will be Model 3, the cheapest among Tesla vehicles, with prices hovering around $74,739 (5.5 million Indian rupees). This information was culled from a report in the Economic Times on Saturday.

In a positive spin to the impending India rollout from 2021, Tesla’s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk on Sunday confirmed the news via his verified Twitter handle but said it would not happen in January.

In October 2020, the government of the Indian state of Maharashtra had invited the company to the state, several weeks after CEO Elon Musk hinted at making an entry into the sub-continent in 2021.

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(source)

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