The Indian arm of US-based electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc has initiated working on Asia-Pacific (APAC) market, as New Delhi is yet to slash the import duties on EVs, a report citing industry sources has claimed.
Most members of the Tesla India team are "mainly working for the Middle-East markets" and have travelled to Dubai for the same, the EU Auto report further said, citing a person privy to the matter.
Tesla's APAC business unit also oversees the sales in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan. The company's charging manager for India unit, Nishant Prasad, has changed his designation on LinkedIn to 'Charging Operations Lead-APAC'.
Manoj Khurana, who was the first employee to be hired by Tesla in India, shifted to California in April to take up a product role in the company, the report added.
The news of Tesla's India unit members being assigned to other geographical locations gained further credence on May 13, when a Reuters report claimed that Tesla has abandoned its entry plans in India amid the deadlock over the import duties.
The company has shelved its plans to sell electric cars in the country, abandoned a search for showroom space and reassigned some of its domestic team after failing to secure lower import taxes, three people familiar with the matter told the news agency.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the developments.
The import duty in India on EVs priced $40,000 or lower is 60 percent, whereas, it is 100 percent on those priced above $40,000.
The Tesla India team, which is headed by US-based Indian executive Prashanth Menon, had been reportedly lobbying to bring down the duties on EVs.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government did not offer a concession, Tesla put on hold the plans to import cars into India, the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The spokesperson for Tesla, as well as the Indian government, were yet to react to the reports.
With Reuters inputs
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