Electric car maker Tesla Inc is mulling over establishing a research and development (R&D) centre in India’s technology capital, Bengaluru.
Tesla held discussions with Karnataka State government officials regarding the project on September 10, Economic Times reported citing its sources on Monday.
Government officials will present a detailed proposal to the car maker during a follow-up meeting scheduled to take place by the end of this month.
If true, India will be the second country after the United States to have the research centre.
“Tesla has shown initial interest to invest in a research and innovation centre in Karnataka and the talks are at a preliminary stage,” an official was quoted as saying by the report.
“The first proposal is for an R&D centre and we have already had at least two rounds of discussions,” the official added.
Talks to set up the centre comes a year after Tesla chief Elon Musk expressed his intent to have a presence in India. Musk has earlier blamed restrictive policy that delayed entry into the world’s fourth largest automobile market.
For the unversed, Bengaluru city currently is home to both local and global brands such as Mahindra Electric and Bosch. Other large R&D centres in the city include General Electric’s first and largest global lab outside the U.S., John F. Welch Technology Centre (JFWTC), IBM, Samsung and around 400 others.
The city is also home to start-ups like Sun Mobility, Ather and Ola Electric.
Karnataka state is reportedly eyeing a massive INR 31,000 crore in investment in research and development and manufacturing of electric vehicles.
India’s electric vehicle market is expected to touch INR 50,000 crore in five years. Of this, INR 15,000 crore can be generated from vehicle parts like battery, controller and motor.
