Within days after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the United States, Elon Musk has begun hiring Tesla employees in India.
Indian Prime Minister Modi speaks with Elon Musk at the White House. pic.twitter.com/tf9AqVDVHM
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Tesla on Monday listed 13 job openings in the country, including customer care posts and back-end roles, on the EV maker's LinkedIn page. Positions for service technicians and advisory roles are open in Mumbai and Delhi. Tesla has also invited applications for customer management roles and delivery operations specialist posts in Mumbai, according to Bloomberg.
India positions listed by Tesla
The job roles listed on LinkedIn included Service Technician, Service Manager, Inside Sales Advisor, Customer Support Supervisor, Customer Support Specialist, Order Operations Specialist, Service Advisor, Tesla Advisor, Parts Advisor, Delivery Operations Specialist, Business Operations Analyst and Store Manager.
Will Tesla get tariff reduction?
With Donald Trump threatening impose retaliatory tariffs on trading partners, including allies and friendly countries, the Modi government has reduced customs duty on high-end and luxury cars that are priced above around Rs 35 lakh ($40,000) from 125 per cent to 70 per cent.
However, Musk has reportedly pushed for further cuts in tariffs on electric vehicles during his meeting with PM Modi. Though there is no official confirmation regarding an agreement regarding this, the billionaire's decision to hire Tesla employees in India points to a fruitful meeting with the prime minister. If this holds water, the government could announce further cuts in customs duty in the coming months.
The Centre had in the past offered a 15 per cent duty concessions for Tesla to encourage them to manufacture EVs domestically. But the negotiations were stalled.
Earlier reports suggested that Tesla is looking for showroom locations across the country, including Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. However, there is no confirmation regarding local production.
During the meeting, Musk had also sought to secure a license for his Starlink operations in India as well as improving collaboration between his SpaceX and the ISRO.
