Tesla is planning to nearly double its component sourcing from India to up to $1.9 billion this year, the nation’s trade minister has said, underscoring the growth of electric-vehicle component manufacturing in the country. But Tesla’s long-floated promise of plans to build its own plants in the country remains electric dreams.
Tesla bought $1 billion of automobile components from India in 2022, and it is targeting to take it to $1.7–$1.9 billion this year, India’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal said at an auto event in New Delhi on Wednesday.
“We’ll start enjoying the fruits of new technologies, innovation and R&D coming into India. The auto component industry will not only then produce for a larger India demand, but with the same [components] models being sold in the rest of the world, we will also start exporting those components,” the minister said.
In June, Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the U.S. Following the meeting, Musk said Tesla was looking to invest in India and establish its local presence in the Indian market “as soon as humanly possible.” But he did not provide any timeline, nor investment plan, nor other details.
