Tesla’s Model Y is among the models whose prices have been trimmed in the US

Tesla’s billionaire owner Elon Musk said he planned to visit India later this month and meet with prime minister Narendra Modi to discuss setting up a car factory among other subjects, according to widespread reports citing sources “with direct knowledge of the matter”.

The meeting between the two was understood to be scheduled for the week beginning 22 April in New Delhi after which Musk was expected to make a separate announcement about Tesla’s investment plans for India. The sources noted the travel schedule may be subject to last minute changes, however.

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Campaigning for the Indian general election was also scheduled to start this month, with Modi widely expected to win a rare third term in office. The announcement of a major investment by Tesla, which would create thousands of jobs, would be a major boost for his election campaign.

The automaker has lobbied the Indian government to lower import duties for almost a year, since Musk and Modi met last June in New York, as part of the company’s entry strategy for India. Last month the government announced it would lower import duties on BEVs from 100% to 15% for vehicle manufacturers committing to invest at least US$500m in a local factory.

Musk was expected to travel to India with a number of key Tesla executives to finalise plans for a US$2bn BEV plant which would help the company diversify its production base away from China where over half of production currently takes place.

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Tesla was also in the process of expanding US capacity and has a factory in Germany.

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This week Musk stated via his X social media company “India should have electric cars like every other country has electric cars. It’s a natural progression to provide Tesla electric vehicles in India.”

BEVs currently account for around 1% of vehicle sales in India but the government wants this figure to rise to 30% by 2030.