Tesla to make India debut 'early' 2021, confirms Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and the Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Nitin Gadkari has said that Tesla is going to start operations in India by early 2021.

He said "Tesla will start operations first with sales and then maybe look at assembly and manufacturing based on the response to the cars. He said, as quoted by Indian Express. Gadkari has also said that India is going to become a number 1 manufacturing hub for auto in five years.

According to a report by Times of India, Gadkari has already held a few rounds of talks with top Tesla executives. Some states have also held meetings with the electric car company for sales of its vehicles in India.

At a recent media event, Gadkari had said there is focus on developing electric cars and added that a lot of Indian firms are also looking at developing electric cars.

On Sunday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company plans to enter the India market in 2021, but not in January. This, however, is not the first time Musk said that Tesla is entering the Indian market.

In 2017, a year after the company began taking bookings, Musk said that Tesla cars might come to India in the summer, but later blamed the delay on FDI standards. "Maybe I'm misinformed, but I was told that 30 per cent of the parts must be sourced locally and there is still no supply to support that in India," he had tweeted.

Earlier, in 2016, the company collected $1000 deposit from interested buyers in India; however, they are still waiting for their cars.

Musk in October had suggested the company's entry to India in a tweet.

Next year for sure," Musk had said on in reply to a Tweet which carried a photograph of a T-shirt with the message: "India wants Tesla".