Nara Lokesh & Tesla – Handle With Care!

The other day, the Economic Times carried an article about how Andhra Pradesh started its efforts to lure EV Giant, Tesla when it arrives in India.

With Donald Trump threatening the World with retaliatory tariffs, India is expected to decrease import duties on EVs brought from abroad. This will open gates for companies like Tesla.

There are also reports that even if India cuts duty, Tesla’s cheapest car would still be beyond most Indians’ budgets. So, Elon Musk would look to cut the costs by manufacturing the car partially or assembling it in India.

In 2024, Elon Musk has hinted about starting a factory in India. He was supposed to come down to India in April last year but that visit got postponed.

Tesla will be a marquee investment and all major states in the country will compete to get this investment.

The state that gets that will be on the World Map. So the competition will be very tough.

It will be a Prestige issue for the BJP too. Modi and Shah, in particular, will try to take it to Gujarat or Maharashtra, where they newly formed the Government.

Andhra Pradesh will give its best shot to get Tesla. Chandrababu Naidu has the experience of bringing Kia Motors to Anantapur. But then, the competition will be many times higher this time.

Naidu will also liaison with the Central Government to get it because the current NDA Government is dependent on the numbers of the TDP.

But then, it is not over until it is over.

The states will also compete with each other to offer more incentives. It is also a tough bet for Andhra Pradesh because the state is cash-strapped.

Meanwhile, the media supporting TDP and the social media teams are losing their balance. They are propagating as it is already a done deal.

In case, Tesla opts to go to another street, it can badly impact the image of Nara Lokesh.

So, there should be a certain degree of caution in handling this issue. If not, it will create an unnecessary impression and that would backfire on Lokesh for no reason.