Tesla's Arrival in India: A Change in the EV Import Scene, Which China Dominates

Tesla's entry into India marks a significant moment for the country's electric vehicle (EV) market. However, China already dominates India's imported EV segment, accounting for 61.1% of imports in FY25, up from 22.8% the previous year. Germany, once the top supplier, saw its market share drop to 27.8%, though it remains the leader in import value. Tesla’s Shanghai-made vehicles and first Indian store, launched on July 15, could reshape this evolving market, challenging China's dominance in India's electrification journey.

Tesla, the world's most famous electric vehicle (EV) maker, is officially entering India, which will change the country's EV market. But according to new analysis from Moneycontrol, China was already the biggest player in India's imported EV industry before the Austin-based car company even launched.

On July 15, Tesla opened its first store in India. The company expects to send its cars to India from its factory in Shanghai. This action shows that the corporation wants to get a piece of India's booming electric vehicle market. But the timing is right because China is quickly becoming the country's main source of imported EVs.

China made up a huge 61.1% of the almost 10,000 electric vehicles that India imported in the fiscal year 2025 (FY25). This is a big jump over last year, when China's contribution was only 22.8%. The development has been huge over the past four years. Chinese electric vehicle imports have grown almost twentyfold, from 332 vehicles to dominating the Indian market for imported electric cars.

Germany used to be the main source of imported EVs for India, but it lost that title in FY25. Germany had a 40% share of the market in FY24, but this declined to 27.8% in FY25. Germany still has the most valuable imports, with $118 million worth of EVs going to India out of a total import value of $244.2 million.

The luxury electric car market in India is still small, which shows that the country is still in the early stages of adopting EVs. In 2024, there were 90,354 EVs sold, but only 5,926 of them were luxury models. These numbers show that there is a market that hasn't been fully developed yet, and multinational companies like Tesla want to get into it as they set up shop in India.

Tesla's entry into the Indian market could change the way EV imports work even further, making the industry more competitive with China, which is now in charge. The company's decision to ship cars from its Shanghai plant shows how Chinese manufacturing is becoming more important in the global electric vehicle ecosystem. It would be interesting to see how Tesla's presence changes the way people trade and what they want as the Indian EV industry grows and changes.

India's road towards electrified transportation is about to get a lot more thrilling now that Tesla is in the picture and China is becoming more powerful.