As a developing country in the world, India has always welcomed foreign investment. But this time the Indian government rejected the offer of a large amount of investment. Recently, China’s largest electric car maker, Build Your Dreams or BYD, has offered to invest $1 billion to build a factory to manufacture electric vehicles and its batteries in India. But the center has clearly said ‘no’ to that. But what is the reason for the government’s decision?
Indian government says ‘no’ to BYD’s $1 billion investment
BYD’s dream of manufacturing 10,000-15,000 units of cars per annum at factories in India has been virtually dashed by the Modi government. The Chinese company currently sells two electric cars in India – Atto 3 and E6. Again they added the name of Seal EV on the company’s Indian website. It was showcased at the Auto Expo this year. The car could be launched in India by the end of 2023. The company’s intention with Seal EV was to manufacture the vehicles sold in India locally. They even had plans to make the batteries used in it. The price of the car can be reduced a lot.
At the beginning of this month, BYD submitted a proposal to the government to invest 100 million dollars in India. Their aim was to build electric car and battery factory in this country. But Department of Commerce, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) was sent to other departments for their opinion. In fact, since the border conflict, the strictness shown by the Indian government in the case of investments from countries connected to the land border including China, can be confirmed that the approval has been blocked. An official source said. Such investments proposed by Chinese companies are no longer permitted.
But this is not the first time. Earlier, the government had rejected the Chinese car maker’s investment proposal. For example, China’s Great Wall Motor had planned to buy the American General Motors (GM) factory in Talegaon, Maharashtra and invest $100 million. But it did not get the support of the government. After waiting for almost two and a half years to send this proposal, the company finally withdrew from its plan in July 2022.
