Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of electric car manufacturer Tesla, on Wednesday said that tough government regulations on foreign investment in India have delayed local production of the company’s cars.
“[I] would love to be in India,” Musk tweeted. “Some challenging government regulations, unfortunately.” He also said Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja, who is Indian, would take the call on the matter.
Musk was responding to a tweet by a user who pointed out that India was not among the countries where Tesla planned to set up Superchargers, a charging network for its electric cars.
Earlier this month, the United States-based company moved a step closer to establishing a factory in China, which would be its first production facility outside America, reported Bloomberg. This move came after China eased rules for carmakers such as Tesla.
Last May, Musk said that his plans to set up a facility in India had been derailed by the country’s ‘Make in India’ push, which requires foreign companies to source at least 30% of their products locally, reported Quartz. “The supply doesn’t yet exist in India to support that,” he tweeted.
In June, Musk said that Tesla was in discussions with the government, requesting temporary waiver of import penalties and other restrictions until a local facility is built.
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