
Piyush Goyal highlights key engagements across banking, MSMEs, aerospace, and infrastructure, ET Manufacturing
— PiyushGoyal (@PiyushGoyal)
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal shared key developments from the past week, reflecting the government's continued push to strengthen India's trade, industrial, and infrastructure landscape.In a high-level meeting with the Chairman of State Bank of India , along with top executives from other major banks, ECGC Ltd., and senior ministry officials, the minister reviewed the status of export credit and explored new opportunities to bolster India's export financing ecosystem.During a visit to Srinagar, Goyal met with delegations from the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the MSME Development Forum 's Kashmir Chapter, reinforcing the government's commitment to empowering local businesses.He also interacted with stakeholders from the Jammu & Kashmir Fruits and Vegetable Processing and Integrated Cold Chain Association, focusing on the potential of agri-value chains in the region.In Bengaluru, the minister toured key units at the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) Aerospace SEZ in Devanahalli. He visited Unimech Aerospace Manufacturing Ltd. and Safran HAL Aircraft Engines Pvt. Ltd., highlighting India's growing capabilities in aerospace manufacturing and Make in India initiatives."A review meeting was held to address key issues affecting major infrastructure projects in Gujarat and Rajasthan through the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) mechanism," Minister added.Further, a review meeting through the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) was held to resolve critical issues impacting major infrastructure projects in Gujarat and Rajasthan, aiming to accelerate execution timelines and remove investment bottlenecks.These engagements underscore the ministry's multi-sector approach to boosting industrial growth, regional development, and export competitiveness.
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Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Tesla almost here in ‘toughest car market', but not the way India's policymakers wanted
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It's about a country protecting its domestic industry, a company safeguarding its global margins, and two powerful political economies trying to reconcile competing big reason: high tariffs, low Musk has long voiced concerns about India's steep import duties on fully built vehicles, which historically ranged from 70% to 100%. On April 23, The Financial Express reported that such tariffs would nearly double the price of a Tesla in India, creating 'a lot of anxiety among the customers.'Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja noted that these tariffs weren't benefiting Tesla but 'going to the local government,' making India 'a very hard market.'Tesla's interest in India dates back to at least 2015, but for nearly a decade, nothing materialised. India's import duty structure remained a sticking point, levying up to 100% tax on completely built imported 2021, Musk tweeted that India's duties were the 'highest in the world by far,' and reiterated Tesla's preference to test demand before committing to local production."We want to do so, but import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country! Moreover, clean energy vehicles are treated the same as diesel or petrol, which does not seem entirely consistent with the climate goals of India," Musk said."But we are hopeful that there will be at least a temporary tariff relief for electric vehicles. That would be much appreciated."But Indian officials held firm: no duty cuts unless Tesla agreed to manufacture stance was shaped by the government's Make in India push. Officials repeatedly stressed that policy concessions would require local investment."We welcome Tesla to India. India is a big market with all types of vendors present here. If it manufactures locally in India, it will get concessions," Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said in the other hand, domestic EV makers like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, which had already invested billions into Indian operations, strongly opposed relaxing import rules for a foreign rival."It should be a level playing field and investing in India is important," Anish Shah, Managing Director & CEO, Mahindra Group, told Reuters at the 2024 World Economic Forum, without naming Tesla."Our approach is essentially to create a stronger industry in India, and not to be in a situation where manufacturing is done outside India, and India just becomes an importer of products."According to media reports, this divergence may have led to stalled negotiations and even the last-minute postponement of Elon Musk's planned India visit in 2024. As reported by Reuters, Musk was expected to announce a $2–3 billion investment for a local facility and meet Prime Minister Narendra cancellation was widely seen as a sign that the two sides had failed to reach an impasse began to shift in March 2024, when India unveiled a new Electric Vehicle policy aimed at attracting foreign investment with conditional tariff to a Ministry of Heavy Industries notification, companies willing to invest a minimum of ₹4,150 crore (roughly $500 million) to build local manufacturing units would be allowed to import up to 8,000 EVs per year at a reduced 15% customs duty, down from 70–100%.To qualify, vehicles must cost at least $35,000, and companies must begin local production within three years of approval. They must also meet localisation targets: 25% by year three, 50% by year showed some early interest but didn't follow through. A senior official in the Ministry of Heavy Industries told PTI that while Tesla attended the first stakeholder consultation, it skipped subsequent rounds.'So far, they have not shown interest,' the official Heavy Industries Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy was more blunt: 'They are more interested only to start showrooms. They are not interested in manufacturing in India,' he said, The Economic Times while India opened the door, Tesla, for now, hasn't walked all the way of committing to manufacturing, Tesla is testing the waters with a retail-first strategy. It has secured a trade certificate from the Andheri RTO, allowing it to import vehicles, conduct test drives, and sell EVs in India, PTI the first showroom opens, a second outlet in Delhi-NCR is expected by the end of the month, according to Times of India. These showrooms will function as experience centres where customers can view, customise, and place orders for Tesla to Bloomberg, deliveries are slated to begin in late August. Customers will be able to configure and order their EVs starting next week, a person familiar with the launch plan told the news company's India debut is anchored by the Model Y rear-wheel drive, shipped from Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory. Five units were declared at approximately ₹27.7 lakh ($32,270) each, according to customs data reviewed by Bloomberg India's steep 70% import tariff on fully built cars priced below $40,000, plus local levies, the final price tag for Indian customers will be significantly higher than the vehicle's U.S. retail price of around $46, well the Model Y, the world's best-selling EV, performs in this environment will be a key indicator of whether premium EVs can thrive despite India's protectionist to an Economic Times report from April, Tesla's gross margin in Q1 2025 stood at 16.3%, down from 17.4% a year came in at $19.34 billion for the January–March quarter, well below the $21.11 billion expected, underscoring weak demand and pricing dropped 13% during the same period, marking the steepest year-on-year decline in nearly three years, as per Reuters. The slump was driven by rising global competition, delayed product refreshes, especially for the Model Y, and growing backlash over Elon Musk's political alignment, particularly his role as an adviser to US President Donald China, once one of Tesla's strongest markets, the company's EV share has slid to 7.6% in the first five months of 2025, down from 10% last year and 15% at its 2020 peak. Rivals like BYD and Xiaomi are capturing market share with feature-rich, competitively priced Tesla sold 336,681 vehicles in Q1, down from 386,810 the previous that context, betting billions on India, a market known for high regulatory friction and uncertain EV demand, may not be the safest play just India story also has a US angle. US President Donald Trump has criticised American firms for shifting operations about Tesla's India ambitions earlier this year, Trump said, 'Every country in the world takes advantage of us, and they do it with tariffs... It is impossible to sell a car, practically, in, as an example, India,' as reported by an interview with Fox News, he added that a Tesla plant in India would be 'unfair' to American workers. 'Now, if he built the factory in India, that's okay, but that's unfair to us. It's very unfair.'Still, Musk moved ahead. Tesla began hiring in India earlier this year. Roles ranged from store managers to engineers. The company also registered a subsidiary in Bengaluru and opened an engineering hub in India play is exploratory. The company is betting that there's a segment of Indian buyers who will pay a premium for the brand, even with high import the bigger questio--will Tesla manufacture in India?--remains giants like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have already invested heavily and lobbied hard against import duty relaxations. Still, Tesla's entry and the new EV policy may spark more competition and innovation in India's still-nascent EV accounted for just 2.5% of car sales in 2024, according to The Hindu. The government wants that number to reach 30% by 2030. For Tesla, that's a huge opportunity, if the policy, infrastructure, and economics line now, the July 15 Mumbai showroom marks the beginning of Tesla's India chapter. It took nearly a decade of lobbying, policy deadlock, and geopolitical friction to get question now is: how far is Musk willing to go from here?


Hans India
9 hours ago
- Hans India
Commerce and Industry ministry clocks hectic week to push exports, big projects
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New Indian Express
12 hours ago
- New Indian Express
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