Even though India had been keen to reduce its oil dependence and cut down on pollution, its efforts to promote electric vehicles had always been thwarted by a lack of investment in manufacturing and infrastructure such as charging stations.

But all this is going to change now, since American entrepreneur, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and clean energy company, Tesla,Inc. is coming to India next year.

On Monday, 28 December, 2020, transport minister, Nitin Gadkari confirmed the report.

“American auto major Tesla will have its distribution facility (sale centres) for its cars in India from next year and, considering the demand, it would look into setting up of manufacturing here (too),” Gadkari told Economic Times.

Reuters reported that Tesla’s share price rose on reports of an India entry next year — up 1.6% to $672.41 on the Nasdaq on Monday at the time of going to press.

The first model to be launched will be Model 3, the cheapest among Tesla vehicles, with prices starting at over $74,739 (5.5 million Indian rupees), according to a report in the Economic Times.

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