US electric carmaker Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk is using his social media influence to ‘put pressure’ on Indian government to slash import duty on its electric vehicles, a government official has said.
A government official was quoted by CNBC-TV18 as saying that it was not the first time Tesla CEO was using social media to put pressure on the government via social media.
According to the official, at present, Tesla can bring in its cars in completely knocked down (CKD) form with zero duty, and assemble and sell them in India.
The official further added that the centre has also launched the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the automobile sector.
The PLI scheme will benefit Tesla if it starts producing its EVs in India, the official said.
“However, the company wants government to reduce import duties on cars without any commitment of producing in India,” the government official said.
The development comes after a Twitter user by the name of Pranay Pathole tagged Elon Musk and asked for an update on the launch of Tesla cars in India.
To that, the Tesla CEO replied, “still working through a lot of challenges with the Indian government.”