Our Bureau
Mumbai
The Tesla Incorporation is trying to establish its business and quantify it through the large Indian market. Tesla now has six addresses that will be selling its cars in the country however none of these stores will be manufacturing in India.
As the reports by the CRE Matrix suggest, Tesla India Motor and Energy Pvt. Ltd. and the Lodha Group’s Bellissimo have signed a so-called license agreement in City FC Mumbai I Pvt. The agreement is to rent out a 24,500 square feet place in the Lodha Logistics Park in the Kurla West area of Mumbai.
According to the documents, the agreement is for 5 months with a monthly rent of around Rs 37.53 lakhs. The license for Tesla came into effect on 20th April but the payments for the rents were supposed to start from June 1. At the end of the term of 5 years Tesla would have paid somewhere around Rs 25 crores. The monthly outgo will increase by 5% at the end of every year according to the reports.
It is being reported that this space by Lodha will be used as a warehouse and a service centre by the company. This was pretty expected as it was notified earlier that Tesla is showing no interest in setting up a manufacturing plant for its Electric Vehicles.
The Union Minister for Heavy Industries, HD Kumaraswamy confirmed that in a press conference held on Monday. He said, “Tesla, we are not actually expecting (interest) from them… They are not interested in manufacturing in India. As from what we know, Tesla plans to open showrooms in India to sell cars.”
Tesla is slowly building its centres in India. As of now it has three spaces in Mumbai Maker Maxity Building of Bandra Kurla Complex, a coworking space in Kurla’s Phoenix Market City and now the Lodha Logistics Park. The company also has bought locations in Delhi, Pune and Bangalore.
