The Indian government said no to a plan by Chinese car company BYD Co. to build a $1 billion factory in India with the help of Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd, based in Hyderabad.
BYD had plans to make around 10,000-15,000 electric cars every year in India as part of this collaboration. This rejection is a big setback for the Chinese auto company because they wanted to establish local production plants for making their electric cars and batteries, this would have helped it to keep the pricing competitive.
The Chinese company had sent over a $1 billion investment proposal, sharing their ideas to team up with a local company and start manufacturing electric cars and batteries in India. The Department of Commerce, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had asked for input from other departments regarding the proposal. During the discussions, it was said that there were security worries about Chinese investments in India, as a result the BYD’s proposal was turned down.
The current Indian regulation doesn’t permit Chinese companies to make such investments.
BYD is already selling two electric cars in India, the Atto 3 and E6. They have also listed the BYD Seal EV on their India website, and it’s expected to be available for purchase later this year.
Reference- Reuters, HT Auto, Money Control, Economic Times