Also read: Tesla restarts search for New Delhi showroom with DLF: Report According to some analysts, Tesla’s cars will still be expensive as compared to others in the market right now, as it doesn’t have any EV in the price bracket of around $25,000 yet. Therefore, with the current import duties in India, the prices would be quite a lot. For instance, import duty on completely built unit (CBU) cars costing above $40,000 is 100 per cent and below $40,000 CBUs are at 70 per cent, to promote domestic manufacturing. In the recent Union Budget, too, the government reduced the import duty on CBU, semi-knocked down (SKD), and completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles, with the goal to promote domestic manufacturing. Tesla’s hiring plan Meanwhile, Tesla has posted as many as 13 jobs in India for various roles, including business operations analyst and customer support specialist. As per the job postings on the company’s website, the posts are for the ‘Mumbai Suburban’ area. Pointers: - 1) in 2016, Elon Musk showed interest to sell Tesla cars in India, even started accepting bookings for booking amount of $1000 2) In 2021, Elon Musk announces Tesla may set up a manufacturing unit in India if it first succeeds with imported vehicles in the country 3) But, says Indian import duties are too high 4) In 2022 again, says would not manufacture its products unless it is allowed to first sell and service its cars in India 5) In April 2024 Elon Musk postpones his proposed visit to India at the last minute citing “very heavy Tesla obligations” 6) His proposed visit raised expectations of plans for the way forward for selling Tesla electric cars in India at the earliest 7) February 2025, PM Modi visits US, meets Musk and a week after Commerce Secretary calls for meeting specifically on ‘Automotive Sector’ 8) To discuss offensive asks of India from US and offensive asks of US from India, and how these asks can be incorporated in a BTA