Mumbai: Another state has now invited US billionaire Elon Musk to invest after he said that electric car pioneer Tesla was โworking throughโ a lot of challenges with the Indian government ahead of long-awaited plans to launch in the country.
After Telanganaโs invitation earlier this week, a Maharashtra minister today offered Mr. Musk a place to set up Teslaโs manufacturing plant in his state.
Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil, in a reply to Mr. Muskโs tweet, said, โMaharashtra is one of the most progressive states in India. We will provide you all the necessary help from Maharashtra for you to get established in India.โ
โWe invite you to establish your manufacturing plant in Maharashtra,โ the Nationalist Congress Party leader added.
Earlier yesterday, Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao had invited Tesla Incโs chief Elon Musk to set up his outlet in Telangana and that the government had no issue and would be happily partner Tesla in working through the challengesโ it is facing in India.
The ministerโs invitation comes a day after the billionaire said that Tesla Inc is โstill working through a lot of challenges with the governmentโ in India to launch its electric cars.
โHey Elon, I am the Industry & Commerce Minister of Telangana state in India. Will be happy to partner Tesla in working through the challenges to set shop in India/Telangana,โ Mr Rao said in a reply to Mr Muskโs tweet.
Mr Musk, while replying to a Twitter user on Thursday whoโd asked if there was any update on Teslaโs launch in India, had not identified the โchallengesโ being worked on with the government.
The Tesla CEO and the centre have been in talks for years, but disagreements over a local factory and the countryโs import duties of as much as 100 per cent have led to an impasse. Tesla has been lobbying the government to slash import taxes on electric vehicles before it enters the market.
Tesla is expected to face competition from other foreign players, including Mercedes-Benz, which announced Wednesday itโll roll out a locally assembled EQS โ the electric version of its flagship S-Class sedan โ in India by the fourth quarter.
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