Telangana commerce minister tweets to Musk to set up Tesla in his state

Telangana commerce minister KT Rama Rao has invited Tesla honcho Elon Musk to set shop in his state and tweeted an invitation on Friday.

The invite followed Musk’s tweet that Tesla is “still working through a lot of challenges with the government” in India to launch its electric cars.

Rao responded by saying that his state government will be “happy to partner Tesla in working through the challenges” it is facing in India.

“Hey Elon, I am the Industry & Commerce Minister of Telangana state in India. Will be happy to partner Tesla in working through the challenges to set shop in India/Telangana,” Rao wrote on Twitter.

“Our state is a champion in sustainability initiatives & a top notch business destination in India,” he added.

A Twitter user had on Thursday asked Musk if there was any update on Tesla’s launch in India.

The Tesla CEO and the central government have been in talks for years, but disagreements over a local factory and the country’s import duties of as much as 100 per cent have led to a deadlock. Tesla has been lobbying the government to slash import taxes on electric vehicles before it enters the market.

Tesla is also expected to face competition from other foreign players, including Mercedes-Benz, which announced on Wednesday that it will roll out a locally assembled EQS – the electric version of its flagship S-Class sedan – in India by the fourth quarter.