The Modi government may cut duty on the imports of completely-built units of electric vehicles for a period of up to five years to attract the likes of Tesla Inc, which commit to manufacturing them in the country.

The quantum of duty to be cut and the investment commitment are still being worked out.

The move comes at a time commerce minister Piyush Goyal visited the Tesla factory and said the company would be doubling its auto components imports from India.

The minister posted a tweet about his interaction with the Indian engineers and finance professionals working in senior positions and contributing to Tesla’s journey in transforming mobility.

He said he was proud to see the growing importance of Indian auto component suppliers in Tesla’s supply chain: “It is on its way to double its components imports from India. Missed Elon Musk’s magnetic presence and I wish him a speedy recovery.”

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, later replied to the tweet and apologised to the minister for being unable to meet him in person. “It was an honour 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,” tweeted Musk.

Trade with US

India and the US discussed ways to strengthen trade and investment during Goyal’s meeting with US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai.

Goyal is in the US for a four-day visit. He reached San Francisco on November 13. He also met Dukgeun Ahn, minister of trade, Korea, and Gan Kim Yong, minister of trade and industry, Singapore. These ministers are in the US for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) meeting.

“Wonderful meeting my friend Ambassador Katherine Tai. We discussed ways to further deepen our trade and investment ties along with convergence on key WTO issues for a favourable outcome at MC13,” Goyal said on X.

The 164-member World Trade Organisation is holding its 13th ministerial conference at Abu Dhabi in February next year.

During the ministerial meetings in San Francisco, Goyal discussed potential collaboration under the IPEF, ways of further enhancing bilateral trade and commerce linkages and matters related to the WTO.