One of India's youngest billionaires wants a Tesla but has a message for Elon Musk
Vijay Shekhar Sharma wants Tesla to Make-in-India
Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma on Wednesday joined the league of Tesla fans who want to own the American electric vehicle but with a condition. Sharma, who is one of India's youngest billionaires with a real-time net worth of $2.3 billion, wants Tesla CEO Elon Musk to set up a factory in India.
"Even though, I am waiting for a Tesla, I will love that we have everyone’s factories in India!" Sharma said.
Sharma was echoing the thoughts of Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO of Ola Cabs, who voiced his disagreements on Tesla's demand for a reduction in import duties.
"...Let’s have confidence in our ability to build indigenously and also attract global OEMs to build in India, not just import. We won’t be the first country to do so!" tweeted Aggarwal.
The new tech entrepreneurs are not the isolated dissenters against Elon Musk's recent demand for special treatment for his cars, P Balaji, CFO of Tata Motors, also raised the same concerns. "I am sure the government will remain consistent to that particular philosophy and the principles of FAME II. This is what all of us are working towards," he said.
Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that his company wants to launch cars in India, however, the country's import duties on electric vehicles (EVs) are "highest in the world by far".
"We want to do so, but import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country! Moreover, clean energy vehicles are treated the same as diesel or petrol, which does not seem entirely consistent with the climate goals of India," Musk said in the reply to a tweet.
Tesla is reportedly lobbying in India seeking a big reduction in import duties on electric vehicles.
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