Mumbai: The Union government has rejected popular electric vehicle (EV) company Tesla’s request for tax discounts. Tesla has requested the Union government to allow tax discounts for import of electric cars. The company said that the rules allow bringing in partially-built vehicles and assembling them locally at a lower tax.
At present, the import duty is 110% on electric vehicles with customs value above $40,000. The import tax is 60% on electric vehicles with customs value less than $40,000. The company requested the government to reduce it to 40% irrespective of the customs value and withdraw the social welfare surcharge of 10 per cent on electric cars.
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‘We looked at whether the duties need to be re-jigged, but some domestic production is happening and some investments have come in with the current tariff structure. So, it is clear that this is not a hindrance’, said Vivek Johri, Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
Earlier, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk said that the company is facing a lot of challenges with the Indian government to launch their cars in the country. In 2020, Musk announced plans to open the production of Tesla electric vehicles in India and a subsidiary Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited was established in Bengaluru. Elon Musk had announced the launch of his company’s ‘Model 3’ car in India in the year 2017. The pre-bookings started in 2016 and it was later dropped.
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