The minister is in the US on a four-day visit.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal visited the Tesla manufacturing facility at Fremont, California, and emphasized India’s role in contributing to Tesla’s exceptional journey. During his visit, he interacted with Indian engineers and financial professionals, but missed meeting Elon Musk.
Despite Musk being unwell and unable to meet in person, he expressed his honor in having the minister visit and looked forward to a future meeting.
“Visited Tesla’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Fremont, California. Extremely delighted to see talented Indian engineers and finance professionals working in Senior positions and contributing to Tesla’s remarkable journey to transform mobility,” said Mr. Goyal, sharing pictures from his visit.
See the pics here:
Visited @Tesla‘s state of the art manufacturing facility at Fremont, California.
Extremely delighted to see talented Indian engineers & finance professionals working at Senior positions and contributing to Tesla’s remarkable journey to transform mobility.
Also proud to see… pic.com/FQx1dKiDlf
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) November 14, 2023
“Also proud to see the growing importance of auto component suppliers from India in the Tesla EV supply chain. It is on its way to double its components imports from India. Missed Mr @ElonMusk’s magnetic presence and I wish him a speedy recovery,” Mr Goyal shared on social networking platform X.
In response, Mr. Musk tweeted, ”It was an honor to have you visit Tesla! My apologies for not being able to travel to California today, but I look forward to meeting at a future date.”
It was an honor to have you visit Tesla!
My apologies for not being able to travel to California today, but I look forward to meeting at a future date.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2023
According to Reuters, Tesla is actively working on establishing a factory in India aimed at producing a $24,000 car within the country.
Mr. Goyal’s visit is significant as it is reported that India is considering giving customs duty concessions to Tesla for establishing a plant in the country. In September, Mr. Goyal announced that the company is looking to source components worth around USD 1.9 billion from India this year, compared to USD 1 billion in 2022.
In August 2021, Elon Musk said Tesla might set up a manufacturing unit in India if it first succeeded with imported vehicles in the country, expressing interest in launching its vehicles in India despite facing high import duties.
