Union Minister Piyush Goyal on November 14 said that US electric car manufacturer Tesla Inc. is in the process of doubling its imports of components from India. He shared the information on the social media platform X after his visit to Tesla’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Fremont, California, US.
The minister said in September that Tesla was aiming to source components worth between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion from India this year, having bought $1 billion of components last year.
Piyush Goyal was, however, unable to meet Tesla chief Elon Musk during his visit to the plant. The minister’s visit to the US was supposed to include discussions with Musk around the world’s largest electric car producer’s plans to set up an Indian factory, manufacturing a $24,000 car at this factory, sourcing more components, and establishing charging infrastructure across the nation.
Responding to the Indian minister’s post on X, Musk said, “It was an honor to have you visit Tesla! My apologies for not being able to travel to California today, but I look forward to meeting at a future date.”
Piyush Goyal was in the US on a four-day visit. In June, Elon Musk met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York. After the meeting, Musk had said that he planned to visit India in 2024.
