As India eagerly awaits the entry of the world’s most valuable car company Tesla and looks to roll out a grand red-carpet for Elon Musk’s electric vehicle (EV) company, there is probably something else on Indians’ mind than thinking of owning a Tesla car that might be out of reach for many from an affordability perspective. Online brokerage startup Zerodha’s CEO Nithin Kamath recently ran a poll on Twitter asking Indians to choose between Tesla car zipping down Indian roads or Tesla stock listing on BSE and NSE where a lot more people can own a part of the company. Out of nearly 15,000 people who voted, an eye-popping 80.5 per cent wanted the Tesla stock to be listed while only 19.5 per cent wished for the Tesla car on Indian roads.
Musk had in October tweeted that the company would foray into the Indian car market “next year for sure”. The tweet was in response to a query on the timeline of the India launch by a handle called Tesla Club India. In December, Road Transport and MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari had told The Indian Express that Tesla will “start operations” in India in early 2021. The first model to come to India will be the more affordable Tesla Model 3 that is likely to be priced in the Rs 55-60 lakh range. Bookings for the same may start in a few weeks.
The American company has now registered the India business as Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt Ltd with RoC Bangalore with an authorized share capital of Rs 15 lakh and paid-up capital of Rs 1 lakh. Its registered office address is 14th Floor, Skav 909, Lavelle Road, Bengaluru – 560001. According to companiesmarketcap.com, Tesla’s market cap currently stands at $783 billion, far ahead of Toyota’s $208.2 billion market cap. Other top car makers were Volkswagen, BYD, and NIO at $95.7 billion, $89.6 billion, and $87.7 billion in market cap.
