Tesla is still hitting roadblocks in India in effort to break into the market
Win McNamee/Getty Images News


Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk says the company is still working through a lot of challenges with the government in India.
Musk made the statement in response to a question on Twitter. He did not offer an expected timeline for producing vehicles in India.

Originally, Tesla (TSLA) had plans to begin selling imported cars in India last year and has been lobbying the government to slash import taxes on electric vehicles before it enters the market. India imposes an import duty of 100% on cars with CIF (cost, insurance, freight) value of over $40K and 60% on cheaper vehicles. For its part, Tesla (TSLA) is pushing for 40% import duty on fully assembled electric cars. The issue has divided the Indian auto industry. Tata Motors (NYSE:TTM), TVS Motor Co. and Ola Electric all object to a reduction with the contention that it will hurt investments aimed at local production. Meanwhile, those auto players backing the reduction include Hyundai Motor India, BMW India and Audi India, saying the lower rate will help the industry generate demand and build EV volume before local production scales up.
The electric vehicle powerhouse has been trying to get India Prime Minister Narendra Modi to engage on the issue.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) are up 0.20% premarket to $1,108.42. Notably, the stock is back over its 50-day moving average.