Anand Mahindra urges Elon Musk to bring Tesla to the Indian electric car market

Key highlights:

• Mahindra urged Musk to bring Tesla to India
• Musk has been vocal about the reason for the delay in Tesla entering India
• Mahindra is the only automobile manufacturer in India producing electric cars

Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra Group on Friday made it loud and clear to Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla to enter the Indian market. Mahindra in a response to Musk's tweet extended an invitation for Tesla to enter the Indian electric vehicle market.

Musk who had recently been vocal about the reason for the delay in Tesla entering India, on Friday tweeted saying India commits to sell only electric cars by 2030. It is already the largest market for solar power.

Mahindra urged Musk by replying to his tweet saying, “Time you got out here Elon. You don't want to leave that whole market to Mahindra do you?? The more the merrier—and greener!”

Time you got out here Elon. You don't want to leave that whole market to Mahindra do you?? The more the merrier--and greener..! https://t.co/IPoA9viDRN

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) June 2, 2017

While Mahindra is the only automobile manufacturer in India producing electric cars, however not many Indian consumers have taken to buying its electric cars. It managed to sell only 1,100 electric cars last year.

Currently Mahindra has the e-20 and the e-Verito, which are the only two electric cars in the country.

Mahindra Electric has invested Rs 6 billion in developing electric vehicles and is looking to develop next generation electric cars. It also has a team in Formula E, which is racing for electric cars.

Mahindra currently manufactures 2,000 electric cars a year and targets 5,000 units by 2018.

The entry of Tesla is expected to boost the demand for electric vehicles in the country. However, demand for electric vehicles is only expected to grow after 2020 with several infrastructure issues still present.

ALSO READ: No local sourcing norms for Tesla cars in India, Elon Musk

Earlier in May Musk had tweeted that the delay for entering the Indian market was that 30% of the parts must be locally sourced and the supply doesn't yet exist in India to support that.

However, the government later clarified to Musk that there was no such minimum sourcing norms of components by manufactures.