India has officially opened its flagship electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing policy to global automakers — but Tesla won’t be joining in. Union Minister of Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy confirmed that while Elon Musk’s company is interested in opening showrooms in India, it has no plans to manufacture locally.
Under the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars (SMEC), global EV makers can import completely built units (CBUs) at a sharply reduced 15% import duty — down from 70% — if they commit to investing ₹4,150 crore (around $500 million) within three years and achieve domestic value addition targets.
Automakers including Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen-Skoda, Hyundai, and Kia have shown early interest. Meanwhile, Chinese EV giant BYD remains excluded from manufacturing in India due to security concerns. The application window for the SMEC scheme opens next week and will remain active for 120 days, with the option for extensions till March 15, 2026.
