Tesla India Policy Executive Quits After Company Puts Entry Plan On Hold: Report

A key executive who was leading Tesla's lobbying effort in India has resigned, weeks after the U.S. carmaker put on hold plans to sell electric cars in the South Asian nation, two sources aware of the matter told Reuters.

Manuj Khurana, policy and business development executive at Tesla in India, was hired in March 2021 and played a key role in forming a domestic market-entry plan for the U.S. carmaker in the country.

He lobbied the Indian government for more than a year to slash the import tax on electric cars to 40% from as high as 100%, a move Tesla said would allow it to test the market with imports from its production hubs like China before investing in a factory.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government insisted Tesla must first commit to manufacturing cars locally before it can offer any concessions. With talks deadlocked, Tesla put its plans to sell cars in India on hold, reassigned some of the domestic team and abandoned its search for showroom space.

(REUTERS)