IBLA 2023 19th Edition: Tesla can't afford to miss India's electrification bus, says Piyush Goyal

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal believes the age of electric vehicles (EVs) has arrived. In a fireside chat with Network18 Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi at the India Business Leader Awards (IBLA), Goyal projected that within seven years, every new vehicle sold in India will be an EV and global EV leader Tesla cannot afford to overlook India's rapid electrification.

"...another two or three years and I see almost 100% of new two-wheeler sales being electric. In three-wheelers, we are almost already close to 100% electric three-wheelers..." he said.

While Indian automobile giants like Tata Motors and Mahindra are spearheading this EV movement, Maruti is also likely to join the fray soon, he noted.

"We'll see a lot of action on (electric) four-wheelers. Therefore, Tesla would not like to miss the bus," he noted.

This shift towards electric vehicles, he stated, will have a profound impact on the Indian economy, significantly reducing crude oil imports and carbon emissions, thus paving the way for a more sustainable and economically robust future for India.