Davos, Switzerland:
Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra has told the government that there should be a level playing field between domestic and foreign players and that local production should be promoted, a top executive said, as New Delhi tries to lure automakers such as Tesla.
Mahindra and Tata Motors have privately pressured Indian officials not to cut 100% import taxes on electric vehicles and protect domestic companies and their foreign investors while the government assesses Tesla's plans to enter the market, Reuters reported last month .
Asked about Tesla's entry and New Delhi's planned policy to cut import taxes, Mahindra CEO Anish Shah said his company had protested to Indian officials and said global EV makers should be incentivized to invest in India.
“There has to be a level playing field and investing in India is important,” Shah told Reuters in an interview at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, without mentioning Tesla by name.
“Our approach is essentially to create a stronger industry in India and not get into a situation where manufacturing takes place outside India and India becomes just an importer of products,” he added.
India sold 4 million cars last year and only 82,000 of them were electric cars, but the emerging segment saw a 115% year-over-year sales growth.
Mahindra has raised about $400 million from Singapore's Temasek and British International Investment, while private equity firm TPG and Abu Dhabi state holding company ADQ invested $1 billion in Tata in 2021.
Mr Shah said Mahindra plans to list its EV unit, but not before 2029 “as we need to be able to demonstrate significant success in that business.”
“For us, electric is the future,” he says.
Tesla has proposed setting up a factory, but also demanded lower import taxes for electric cars. India is working on a new policy to reduce import taxes on electric cars to just 15% for companies committed to local production, Reuters reports.
But that is worrying the Indian industry, with sources saying Tesla's entry could jeopardize the future fundraising of Indian EV companies as they need a stable and favorable import tax regime.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)