Elon Musk-Led Tesla Execs To Meet Piyush Goyal As Govt Rejects BYD's Bid To Setup EV Plant

As China fumes at New Delhi for rejecting BYD Group's bid to build a $1 billion facility in India, executives from Elon Musk-led Tesla are reportedly expected to meet Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as early as this month to chalk out a facility to build Rs 20 lakh electric car, reported IANS. IANS reporting quoting Reuters mentioned that the meeting with Goyal will be the highest-level one since Musk met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US last month and said he plans to bring Tesla to India as soon as humanly possible.

Tesla was yet to comment on the report. US electric car producer Tesla has proposed setting up a factory in India to build electric cars for domestic sale and export. Tesla has been eyeing to enter the Indian market for a long time, but the high tax structure is pulling back the world's largest electric car maker's entry to India. Nitin Gadkari, said if Tesla wants to enter India, they should make cars here and not in China. 

Meanwhile, as the government gears up to welcome Musk's Tesla, the Centre has reportedly rejected Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD Motors' plan to set up a $1 billion four-wheeler manufacturing facility in the country. According to Chinese state-run Global Times, if India treats Tesla and BYD differently, “won't it be utter discrimination against China?”

In an opinion piece, the newspaper said that it is hoped that “India will not be politically biased against Chinese investment, refrain from setting invisible entry barriers for Chinese manufacturers under the disguise of protecting economic security”.

In recent years, India has intensified its assault on Chinese companies, which analysts said was “blunt bullying, and the theft of Chinese companies' achievements under the disguise of so-called posing security threats”, IANS further added.

“India's efforts to provide a good business environment for international investment and to continuously attract global companies will be an empty promise,” said the publication.