The challenges Tesla is facing in India.

In the year 2019 the CEO of Tesla Inc. Elon Musk announced his plans to open up its business outlets in India. But it has been about two years and there are many challenges and hurdles that the company is facing to open up in India. The major challenges has been in persuading the government to grant concession in tax and import duties so that the car may be available at cheaper rates. But the company finally was registered on 8 January 2021 in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It has officially registered with the Registrar of Companies in India at its Bengaluru office, the conformation came by Elon Musk himself on Twitter.

Tesla cars are no doubt something that are of a great attraction and value. Tesla cars remain one of the most attractive and talked about technological marvels around the world. The specialty of these cars is that they use clean green energy i.e. electricity to run the vehicle. With features like autopilot and advanced touch screen display, the car is a perfect balance of luxury and technology. With a marketplace like India the company is looking forward to utilize the full potential but many things need to be managed.

The greatest challenge for Tesla in India:

Tax will remain one of the greatest challenges for the company to become successful. The fact that automobile industry is already on the top of the list of highest levied sectors in India where tax ranges from 28% to 44% based on the size of the vehicle, this will cause the price of the cars which already have a high manufacturing cost plus import to be sold on extremely expensive prices. This is what we see out there in he market. Tesla's in India come in a range of about 0.6cr - 2cr. Inr.

Though last year, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, informed that Tesla car would cost about Rs 35 lakh in India. The government is demanding two main things from the company.

1. The cars should be manufactured locally by setting up factories or utilizing local factories.
2. Chinese manufactured cars should cannot be imported to India.
   

This may be a hard investment to do but the market for the vehicle supply cannot be ignored either. Currently only imported cars are available in India and that too have an Import duty of about 100%.

A Tesla Model X

Challenges that cannot be ignored:

Though Tesla managed to make a room in India but what it needs to know is that most of the fans of their cars do not hail from a well off class. A middle class person in India may not be able to but  a Tesla which consists of the majority of the population of India. What Tesla has its eyes on are those well off people who can afford luxurious cars or at least a decent car in the range of above 20 lack Inr.

What needs to be understood is that there may be some who have by their will and wish want a Tesla but what about the people who can afford a Tesla but do not think worth spending on one. What I mean is that Tesla will need some really good marketing strategies to eradicate its competitors.These competitors are not any tom dick and harry. These are firms who have been in India from many years like Mercedes and BMW. 

Also what Tesla should be aware of is the condition of infrastructure for Electric vehicles in India.

There is much less or about to nothing when we ask about how many charging stations we have in India and how much is the availability. These vehicles may be successful in larger cities but they will suffer some drawbacks while on a long route travel. Thus Tesla will have to make more investment to develop the infrastructure of for their vehicles. 

A Tesla Charging Station

Some general challenges:

• Modifications may be required in the EV's to adapt to the roads and climate of India.
• Service stations must be set up and workforce induced.
• Electricity costs and availability for the charging of EV's.
• Maintaining good relations with the offices.
• Introducing some cheaper models for the vast market.
• Financing and finding investors. 
  

Summary:

Tesla has some major challenges to deal with and solutions are difficult an expensive. The taxes must be brought down and investments need to be done in infrastructure. Competition is high and there is a need of some extraordinary marketing strategy. 

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