‘High’ chances of Elon Musk attending Vibrant Gujarat summit
The news assumes significance as the Central government has been engaging with Tesla to set up its manufacturing facility in India.
3 min read
Tesla Group CEO Elon Musk Chances of Tesla Group CEO Elon Musk attending the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS) “are very high”, highly placed sources in the state government told The Indian Express. The biennial meet is scheduled to be held between January 10 and 12.
The sources added that Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal himself is pursuing the matter. “The probability of Musk coming to Gujarat for VGGS is very high. We (the Gujarat government) are not dealing with the issue since the Union Minister (Piyush Goyal) himself is handling the same on behalf of the Central government,” top sources in the Gujarat government stated.
The news assumes significance as the Central government has been engaging with Tesla to set up its manufacturing facility in India. It is learnt that Tesla is eyeing Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra to set up its electric vehicle factory.
On Thursday, in response to media queries if there are possibilities of Tesla signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government during VGGS, Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation MD, Rahul Gupta, said, “It would be very early to say that any MoU will be signed (with Tesla) in the run-up to Vibrant Gujarat (Global Summit). But it is natural that if some big foreign investment is coming to India, then Gujarat is a strong contender.”
Minister Goyal had, on November 14, visited Tesla’s manufacturing facility at Fremont in California, US when he had detailed discussions with the company officials.
Goyal had taken to X, also owned by Musk, to share photos of the visit. “Visited @Tesla’s state of the art manufacturing facility at Fremont, California. Extremely delighted to see talented Indian engineers & finance professionals working at senior positions and contributing to Tesla’s remarkable journey to transform mobility. Also proud to see the growing importance of auto component suppliers from India in the Tesla EV supply chain. It is on its way to double its components imports from India. Missed Mr @ElonMusk’s magnetic presence and I wish him a speedy recovery,” his post read.
In reply, Musk posted, “It was an honor to have you visit Tesla! My apologies for not being able to travel to California today, but I look forward to meeting at a future date.”
In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, during his five-day US visit, met Musk in New York. “He (Modi) really cares about India because he’s pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something we intend to do,” Musk had told reporters after the meeting.
With an eye on the market, Tesla had set up its India office by registering Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited in Bengaluru in January 2021.
“The PM appreciated Mr Musk’s efforts at making technology accessible and affordable in various sectors. He also invited Mr Musk to explore opportunities in India for investments in electric mobility and the rapidly expanding commercial space sector,” the Prime Minister’s Office had said in a statement on June 21.
In October, a delegation of the Gujarat government visited the US to promote VGGS.
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