A host of global and local companies participated in the first consultation on India’s new Electric Vehicle (EV) policy focused on high end cars. Tesla was represented by its advisor, The Asia Group (TAG) India in this meeting, officials aware of the development told ET. Representatives of Vietnam’s VinFAST, which is setting up an EV plant in Tamil Nadu joined the meeting through video link.
According to multiple people who were part of the meeting, the representative from TAG India did not make any comments during the consultative meeting and maintained he was there as ‘an observer’. The meeting comes days ahead of Tesla chief Elon Musk’s visit to India.
TAG is a Washington headquartered strategy and business advisory group.
Other participants included Indian car makers like Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, and Mahindra & Mahindra. Global automotive giants like Hyundai, BMW, Kia, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Toyota, and Renault-Nissan also took part.
“The first stakeholder consultation took place before guidelines of the EV policy are issued. Questions from automobile Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) were answered during the session,” Hanif Qureshi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) told ET.
“Officials from the Department of Revenue were also there for clarifying about the concessional duty notification which enables the sops under the policy,” he added.
Global companies with skeletal local manufacturing facilities already in India were looking at avenues to avail benefits under this new scheme. Others like Tata Motors, Kia, and Hyundai with significant local and international presence were also assessing opportunities for themselves under this new programme.
India rolled out concessional import tariffs for global EV makers in March 2024. Companies seeking the customs duty relaxation need to invest USD 500 million over the coming five years in India’s EV ecosystem. They may set up new manufacturing facilities or even deploy EV charging stations to meet the minimum investment requirement.
“Companies with manufacturing presence just in India attended the consultations but said they would not be participating in this import incentive scheme,” a second official who attended the meeting said.
Some foreign players wanted to use their existing investments in India to meet the criteria for availing the concessional import duties. But MHI officials clarified that only fresh investment will be the eligible for getting the sops.
In a bid to safeguard the market for Indian car makers, this scheme does not incentivize import of EVs worth less than USD 35,000. This scheme is also aimed at importing more technologically advanced long range EVs, hoping to establish their manufacturing facilities in the country.
