Tesla is going to announce an investment of up to $3 billion next week in India during his planned visit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reports indicate.
Tesla has been working to establish a professional relationship with India for several years, hoping to bring its vehicles to the country on a larger scale.
However, Tesla and India have both had requests that the other party simply could not agree to: Tesla requested lower import duties so it could test demand, while India was only willing to do this with a commitment from Tesla to build a factory.
The plans to work together stagnated over the past few years, but rumors have continued to swirl. Last year, CEO Elon Musk met with Modi in New York City to discuss a partnership, and Musk seemed more enthused than ever.
“I am confident that Tesla will be in India and will do so as soon as humanly possible,” Musk said during an interview after their meeting.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Musk and Modi would finally meet in India to finalize a deal. It appears that is exactly what will happen.
Sources close to the situation told Reuters that Musk and Tesla will announce an investment of between $2 billion and $3 billion. The report states that most of the investment will be spent on building a new factory.
Electric vehicles are in short supply in India, and demand is not much better. Just 2 percent of total car sales last year were made up of EVs, and Tesla’s vehicles could be the answer to more widespread adoption.
However, it is unclear what Tesla’s short-term plans are for the market. It is still working to begin more concerted construction efforts at its planned factory in Mexico.
Additionally, it terminated over 14,000 workers this week, and in a filing with the SEC, the company said more than 10 percent of its total employee headcount was being reduced.
Tesla has taken steps in the past to push its efforts in India forward. It created a team of executives to handle its entrance into the market and has already made plans to ship cars from its Berlin Gigafactory to India to test demand.
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