Rajasthan enters fray to attract Tesla India plant

With US-based electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla scouting for a suitable location for its foray in India, Rajasthan has joined the fray with a host of offers to woo the Elon Musk-led company. Other challengers include Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra.

Sources privy to the development said that an initial meeting between the senior executives of Tesla and the government of Rajasthan, which was held last week, turned out to be “quite positive.”

Tesla would now carry out a survey and is expected to share the survey details with the state’s investment promotion department soon.

On its part, Rajasthan has already marked a couple of land parcels and conveyed it to the EV major.

The Bureau of Investment Promotion is learnt to have suggested the Bhiwadi industrial town as the location to Tesla.

“Among the various industrial zones in and around Bhiwadi, we feel the Salarpur or Khushkhera Industrial area would be most compatible to the needs of the company.

"The area was designed to become an auto hub and already has a presence of auto majors, ancillary industries.

"These zones are very well connected to the Delhi-Jaipur expressway and have seamless infrastructure support,” said an official requesting anonymity.

These two zones are part of the upcoming Phase-II of the industrial area of Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd (RIICO). This includes Tapukara, Khushkhera, Karoli and Salapur.

Honda already has a 400-acre facility in the Tapurana zone.

Apart from this, sources said, the investment promotion bureau is “sweetening the deal” for Tesla and will customise the offerings.

“Usually the land is e-auctioned in these zones.

"But we can allot as well if there is a big-ticket investment.

"Also, we are competing with states which are industrial majors, we are pitching our benefits against their drawbacks,” said the source cited above.

Officials said the landlocked state will pitch its proximity with the national capital region, the seamless connectivity with Delhi and Mumbai through road and rail, cheap labour cost, and huge land banks.

The state government is also planning to add the proposed airport near Bhiwadi and a railway cargo terminal.

The hustle among the states comes close on the heels of the visit of Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla to India and his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to global reports.

A Tesla team from the US is reported to be scouting for potential sites for the company’s planned $2-3 billion electric vehicle plant in India.

The news about Tesla’s plan to set up a plant in India comes after the Centre’s decision to cut import taxes on some EVs for companies that pledge at least $500 million (Rs 4,150 crore) in investment and a manufacturing plant within three years.