Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa welcomed US-based carmaker Tesla in a tweet late Tuesday, before deleting the post a few hours later.
“Karnataka will lead India’s journey towards Green Mobility. Electric Vehicle Manufacturer Tesla will soon start its operations in India with an R&D unit in Bengaluru. I welcome @elonmusk to India & Karnataka and wish him all the very best,” the since deleted tweet had read.
Tesla, an electric vehicle maker that is led by American billionaire Elon Musk, registered as a subsidiary company in Bengaluru Tuesday and the tweet was withdrawn after the company asked the chief minister’s office to not make any official announcements till the entire deal was finalised.
“There will be a fresh announcement in some time. Until then, we have decided to withdraw the tweet,” an official from the CM’s office said.
The state’s industries minister Jagdish Shettar also confirmed to ThePrint that while Tesla had registered an office in Bengaluru, talks were still on with the government on how they will be investing the state.
“We have been in talks with them for a few months now. They have registered in our state as a commercial company and also have appointed directors. They are yet to get back to us on how much they would be investing in Karnataka and how they will go about manufacturing the product,” Shettar said .
The minister added that Karnataka welcomes the US electric car giant and looked forward to further collaborations with Musk.
Tesla enters India
Tesla has registered the company in Bengaluru and is expected to set up a research and development unit as well as a manufacturing plant for electric vehicles in the country.
According to the regulatory filing of Tesla’s India unit with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the company has appointed three directors — Global Senior Director David Jon Feinstein, Chief Accounting Officer Vaibhav Taneja and Bengaluru-based entrepreneur Venkatarangam Sreeram.
Karnataka was one of the first states to unveil an electric vehicles policy in 2017.
With the entry of Tesla, the state hopes to generate investments upwards of Rs 35,000 crore through R&D and manufacturing, said Shettar.
The company has entered India at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for increased focus on electric vehicles.
In December last year, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced that Tesla will be coming to India in early 2021. The company’s Model 3 will reportedly be the first model to enter the Indian market.
The company is also in talks with state governments of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to set up more units.
In October last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had also suggested that the company will come to India in 2021 while responding to a tweet from India.
Next year for sure
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 2, 2020
Also read: Elon Musk’s Tesla are headed to India, but there won’t be any green car revolution here
उन्होंने tweet डिलीट कियौन किया । ये दर्शाता है कि भारत की लोगों को बिज्ञान मैं रुचि नहीं है । भारत कभी भी Developed nation नहीं हो सकता है । । ये नामुमकिन है ।