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Even as top executives of Tesla are meeting up with Indian government officials to discuss its foray into the country, the US-based electric vehicle manufacturer has picked up office space in Pune’s Viman Nagar locality.
The company’s India arm, Tesla India Motor & Energy, has leased the office spread over 5,850 sq ft in a coworking center on the first floor of one of the towers in Panchshil Business Park.
The lease will have a total term of five years starting from October 1 with a lock-in period of three years. Tesla India will also hold an option to renew the lease for an additional period of five years, taking the total commitment to 10 years.
The company will be paying initial monthly rentals of Rs 11.65 lakh, which will undergo a 5% escalation after every 12 months taking its total rental payout to Rs 7.72 crore through the entire lease tenure. The deal was registered on July 26, shows the documents accessed through CRE Matrix.
Tesla is keen on setting up an electric vehicle manufacturing factory in India and has been in discussion with the government with regards to this. The company had registered its Indian arm in Bengaluru in January 2021 signalling its plans to launch vehicles in the country.
ET’s email query to Tesla India remained unanswered until the time of going to press.
After a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York in June, Tesla’s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk had stated that the company may soon set up a manufacturing base in India. This is a key change in the company’s stance as a year ago, it had said that levies imposed by India on automobiles are the highest among large countries and it can only consider setting up a manufacturing factory here only if it succeeds with imported models.
Tesla has been eyeing the Indian market to sell its popular electric cars. ET had reported earlier that the company had sought a 40% import duty on fully assembled electric cars against the current rate of 60% applicable on those priced below $40,000 and 100% on those retailed above that. The government is unlikely to provide any import duty concessions unless it considers local investment.
ET reported on Wednesday that India could consider allowing Tesla’s foreign vendors, notably those based in China, to manufacture critical components in the country but the government is not in favour of any company-specific exemptions. This assumes significance as some key components of electric vehicles such as battery cells are imported from China. The company has expressed interest in bringing its own supply chain ecosystem to India.
Pune is one of Asia’s largest industrial hubs that houses more than 4,000 manufacturing enterprises, including electronics, engineering, automobile, and e-vehicles. The automobile supply chain is well established with all major Indian vehicle manufacturers and ancillary companies invested heavily to set up state-of-the-art production facilities here. Among global entities, Mercedes-Benz India set up its 100-acre production facility in Chakan in 2009.
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