Tesla Ahoy! Elon Musk may drive into Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Elon Musk-led Tesla is holding talks with the Karnataka government on setting up a research and development (R&D) facility in Bengaluru. If everything goes well, Tesla's research centre in Bengaluru will be the second such R&D centre outside the US.

Tesla's R&D centre will be a feather in Bengaluru's cap. The investment from Tesla will give a major boost to the image of Bengaluru, already home to several R&D facilities spanning IT, biotechnology and aviation.

Home to technology biggies such as Infosys, Wipro, Mindtree and Mphasis, Bengaluru has one of the highest number of MNC R&D centres of more than 400, including the likes of IBM, Samsung, GE, Sony Corporation. The news about Tesla mulling R&D centre in Bengaluru comes close on the heels of IKEA, the Swedish furniture retail giant from Ingka Group, expressing its intent to open a new global office in the city to operate within areas of Global Business Operations (GBO), Digital, and Centres of Expertise (CoE). According to reports, Tesla held first round of discussions with key officials in the Karnataka government. Tesla officials are expected to hold further talks sometime in the next month. Already, Elon Musk had expressed his intent to have a presence in India. Bengaluru will be the first big city in the country to attract one of the biggest electric car makers in the world. Karnataka already houses electric vehicle companies like Bosch, Ola Electric, Mahindra Electric, Daimler, Sun Mobility among others. The Karnataka government had recently New Industrial Policy (NIP) 2020-25 which aims to give push to electric vehicle policy. Through the policy, the government aims to generate more than Rs 30,000 crore investments. 

Why Bengaluru?

♦ The city is home to technology biggies such as Infosys, Wipro, Mindtree and Mphasis

♦ Has one of the highest number of MNC R&D centres of more than 400, including the likes of IBM, Samsung, GE, Sony Corporation

♦ Karnataka government had recently New Industrial Policy (NIP) 2020-25 which aims to give push to electric vehicle policy

♦ Karnataka has a massive engineering talent pool

♦ The city is a start-up hub innovating in the spheres of new age technologies like AI, data analytics and IoT