The latest in a series of high-level meetings, two top Tesla executives spoke with representatives from India’s investment promotion agency in New Delhi about the company’s aspirations to enter the market, according to reports quoting information from two  source with direct knowledge of the matter.

The American automaker has expressed interest in establishing a factory in India to develop low-cost electric vehicles (EVs) for both the Indian market and export that would cost $24,000, or around 25% less than Tesla’s current entry model.

The two sources, who declined to be named because the meetings were private, said that the American executives, senior public policy and business development executive Rohan Patel and vice president for supply chain Roshan Thomas, are currently in New Delhi.

They stated that the Tesla executives spoke with Invest India CEO Nivruti Rai, a former Intel executive, at a meeting on Thursday.

There were no comments available on the issue from Tesla and Invest India.

The majority of Tesla’s interactions with Indian officials were secret. This week, according to Reuters, Tesla representatives will also meet with Piyush Goyal, the commerce minister, to discuss establishing up an EV supply chain and securing land for a manufacturing.

However, the automaker is now focused on negotiating its proposal with the federal government in New Delhi, according to one of the sources, despite the fact that many Indian states are eager to woo Tesla to establish its facility in their territory.

The negotiations mark a remarkable turn around for the corporation after calls from government officials to commit to locally producing cars last year derailed efforts to lower import duties on EVs delivered to India.

(Adapted from ThePrint.in)

Categories: Economy & Finance, Entrepreneurship, Regulations & Legal, Strategy, Sustainability