Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal asks companies to do this before importing to India

Tesla or anyone who wants to import vehicles to India should invest in the country, Ola chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal said in response to demands of customs duty reduction on imported electric cars raised by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Talking to reporters a pre-launch event for the Ola S1 electric scooter, Aggarwal said the industry needs to create a sustainability revolution in India and also grow its technology and manufacturing ecosystems.

“I welcome that gentleman to India... You know competition is good, in the end, the industry has to create sustainability revolution in the country,” the Ola CEO said.

“And, companies, whether Indian or international, should invest in India and that is my comment to anybody who wants to import into India. They should invest in India and India is the best place to invest,” he added.

Last month, Musk had said Tesla wants to launch its electric cars in India “but import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country”. He had said that the American EV maker may set up manufacturing unit in India if it first succeeds with imported vehicles in the country, for which he had asked New Delhi to lower customs duty.

Back then, Aggarwal had said that although he is waiting for Tesla to arrive in India, he would “love that we have everyone’s factories in India!”

India currently imposes 100 per cent import duty on fully imported cars with CIF (cost, insurance and freight) value more than $40,000 and 60 per cent on those costing less than the amount.

Volkswagen AG, the second-largest auto manufacturer in the world, had also echoed Tesla's demands for lower import duties on electric vehicles. The German auto giant had said that lowering import taxes on EVs would not pose a big threat to domestic manufacturers, but would help drive investment.

On increasing competition in the Indian EVs space where many electric two-wheeler makers have frayed, Aggarwal said, "We welcome competition, we will beat competition whether it's Indian or global; but, for growing the ecosystem, companies should invest in India."

Ola Electric on Sunday made a foray into the green mobility segment with the launch of its electric scooter S1 with price starting at ₹99,999.