Tesla will set up an electric car manufacturing unit in K'taka: CM

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Saturday said that American car maker Tesla will set up an electric car manufacturing unit in Karnataka. The statement was a part of the list of benefits promised to Karnataka in the Union Budget.

"American firm Tesla will open a electric car manufacturing unit in Karnataka," the statement by Yediyurappa said. This is the first statement in which the government has said that an electric car manufacturing unit will be built in Karnataka by Elon Musk-led Tesla.

Last month, Tesla registered its subsidiary Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited and listed three directors for the company. It was incorporated in Bengaluru and its directors are Vaibhav Taneja, Venkatrangam Sreeram and David Jon Feinstein. Taneja is the Chief accounting officer of Tesla.

At the time of the announcement, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa tweeted that the electric car maker would open an R&D unit in Bengaluru but the tweet was quickly deleted.

Following this, Gaurav Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, Commerce and Industries in Karnataka told TNM that the timeframe and manner in which Tesla will operate in India is yet to be decided.

He said that Tesla's announcement followed months of correspondence between the state government and the electric car manufacturer. Tesla was in contact with five state governments in India including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

In January 2021, Elon Musk briefly became the world's richest person when his net worth grew to over $185 billion. He runs multiple companies including Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, OpenAI and Neuralink. The electric car maker Tesla is based in Palo Alto, California.