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Govt asks Tesla to copy Apple’s strategy to make in India: Report  

Govt asks Tesla to copy Apple’s strategy to make in India: Report  

Tesla

As Tesla considers constructing a manufacturing plant in India, officials have requested the company to follow Apple’s lead in finding Indian companies to collaborate with any Chinese suppliers involved.

Tesla has been in talks with the Indian government over the past few weeks about building a facility to manufacture economically affordable electric vehicles (EVs) for both the domestic market and exports.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to expand the company’s activities outside of China, where regulatory approvals for expansion are slow.

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But Tesla’s plans to work with Chinese suppliers may be halted due to tense relations between China and India, according to Reuters.

Chinese suppliers may be crucial if Tesla were to open a facility in India and control prices to produce a low-cost EV. Even India’s largest EV manufacturer, Tata Motors, imports battery cells from China since the country has limited local producers for such components.

According to a report published in The Print, Tesla executives told the Indian government that it wanted some of its Chinese vendors to establish local bases to strengthen its supply chain.

In response, officials informed Tesla that approving wholly-owned Chinese corporations in India could be complex as Chinese companies have been subject to severe scrutiny after a border dispute between the two nations in 2020.

Reports suggest that Indian officials asked Tesla to adopt Apple’s strategy. The world’s largest manufacturer of smartphones recently received permits to bring Chinese suppliers to India after locating local joint-venture (JV) partners. With a rapidly expanding supply chain, Apple assembles its iPhones in India using Taiwan’s tech giant, Foxconn.

According to one of the government sources, New Delhi has recently approved certain JV arrangements between Chinese suppliers and Indian businesses on a case-to-case basis. However, India is still reluctant to let Chinese businesses, particularly involved with automobiles, to operate in the country.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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