Tesla starts operations in India, launches subsidiary in Bengaluru

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has tweeted several times in recent years, including as recently as October 2020, about an impending foray into India

Electric vehicle giant Tesla has officially registered with the Registrar of Companies in India at its Bengaluru branch.

Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Ltd incorporated itself in Bengaluru on January 8, the filings available with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs show.

Vaibhav Taneja, Venkatrangam Sreeram, and David Jon Feinstein are directors of the incorporated entity. Taneja is Chief Accounts Officer at Tesla Inc, while Feinstein is Global Senior Director, Trade Market Access at Tesla.

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It is a private unlisted company with an authorised capital of Rs 15,00,000 and a paid-up capital of Rs 1,00,000, according to the MCA filings.

Karnataka CM, BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday confirmed that the electric-vehicle giant will start its operations with an R&D unit in Bengaluru.

According to reports, Tesla is also in the process of conducting a location search for setting up their operations and has hired a global consulting firm for the same purpose. The governments of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have had talks with the company and are also considering local partnerships for sourcing.

Read: Tesla delivered record number of cars in 2020

All these states already have a thriving presence in the form of the auto-sector that includes major OEMs as well as component suppliers and vendor parks.

On December 28, 2020, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had also confirmed that the company will enter the Indian market in early 2021.

Tesla had originally planned its India entry back in 2016. It will enter India with the Model 3 Sedan, expectedly priced at around Rs 60 Lakh.

The vehicle is fully electric and is powered by a 60kw hour lithium-ion battery pack with a range of 500 km. In a span of only 3.1 seconds, the Sedan speeds up from 0 to 60mph and has a top speed of around 250 km.