Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company, Tesla is reported to start its operations of selling cars in India in early 2021, said Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Real Transport and Highways. Nitin, who also manages the Ministry for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises stated that the company is expected to start its operations, first with sales for its vehicles in India from next year, and considering the demand, it would also look into setting up a manufacturing facility in the future.

Earlier, Elon was also seen on social media website, Twitter exchanging tweets about the company’s plans for India becoming a reality next year. The minister has held a few rounds of talks with top executives of Tesla and the Elon Musk-headed company was also in discussions with some states to start sales of its vehicles, sources said.

Fans of the electric vehicle manufacturer have been waiting for the company to come to India but, according to Elon, the criteria of 30 percent locally sourced material has been delaying the plans for so long. There were also

Elon was also seen on social media website, Twitter exchanging tweets about the company’s plans for India becoming a reality next year

reports that Tesla would open pre-bookings for the Model 3 and then start deliveries for the car by June. The Tesla Model 3 will come to India as a completely built unit and it is likely that the company will not sell its cars via dealerships. The car has a range of up to 500km and a top speed of 162kmph.

While Tesla has stayed away from India for so long the company does operate a factory in Shanghai, China. The facility works as the assembly line for Tesla’s Model 3 with plans for Model Y in place. The first cars from the factory were delivered just ahead 12 months after the site grading for the factory. In June 2018, Elon had said his company was in discussions with the Indian government, requesting temporary relief on import penalties or restrictions until a local factory is built.

Tesla is one of the leading car manufacturers in the world now with a market capitalization of $659 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2019, Tesla’s revenue came in at $7.38 billion. Even in the pandemic struck year, the Elon Musk’s firm has not stopped growing at an astronomical pace. In the last quarter, Tesla posted revenue of $8.77 billion. Recently, Tesla was added to the S&P 500 index.