The Tesla Opportunity For More Indian Suppliers

Considered to be the flagbearer of EVs, Tesla, Inc has a strong supplier base supporting operations in each of its markets. Ashish Bhatia looks at this ecosystem and the underlying opportunities for more suppliers in India.

- Ashish Bhatia

It is well known that Tesla Inc. is gearing to establish a base in India after the country rolled out a red carpet for the EV flagbearer. The in-person plant visits at the Tesla headquarters, in Palo Alto, California, by the top brass of the country led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in 2015, have since been followed by several state heads also extending an invite to Tesla Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk for setting up the company’s India headquarters. States like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were among the front runners then giving hope to more domestic suppliers apart from the many that are known to supply to the company for its global markets.

The speculations were put to rest only earlier i this year when in January, the company registered as ‘Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt. Ltd.’ with the Registrar of Companies at Bengaluru, Karnataka. Now that Tesla is officially in India, the company, in phase one of its India strategy, is expected to import the Model 3 series. If it succeeds with imports and the sales strategy next year, it will want to establish a manufacturing plant in the next phase. The objective being to increase localisation of content per vehicle and succeed in this new market. More domestic manufacturers stand to benefit if it were to happen as envisaged.