Tata boss likely to meet Sunak for finalising electric car battery plant in UK this week

One senior Conservative said a deal was “imminent” and another minister said that while a deal had not been finalised, the “hope” was that the gigafactory by the M5 motorway in Bridgwater would be announced very soon.

Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt earlier in May hinted at a development in Britain's electric vehicle (EV) battery-making capacity, saying "Watch this space" when asked about it at an event. Such an investment would also give a boost to the British car industry, days after major automakers including Vauxhall owner Stellantis and Ford warned that looming post-Brexit trade rules risked making it unviable.

Britain has fallen behind in the global race to build local battery capacity, threatening the future of its EV sector which requires heavy batteries to be built near car manufacturing plants.

A lack of a home-grown battery sector would also risk tariffs on British cars under post-Brexit rules that are due to come into force next year.

Tata Motors while interacting with CNBC-TV18 at the Auto Expo 2023 in March, said it clocked a production milestone of 5 million cars. Shailesh Chandra, MD at Tata Motors said the company intends to expand its electric passenger vehicle portfolio to 10 by FY26, from less than five currently.