Electric car maker Tesla is likely to double the number of components it imports from India, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said through a post on social media platform X on Tuesday.

Goyal’s post came on the day he visited the Tesla Factory Unit in Fremont, California and interacted with the senior executives of the Tesla group at his first-day of official visit to the United States.

“Proud to see the growing importance of Auto component suppliers from India in the Tesla EV supply chain. It is on its way to double its components imports from India,” he said.

In September, the minister had said that Tesla was aiming to source components worth between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion from India this year, having bought $1 billion of components last year.

During his US visit, Piyush Goyal is supposed to hold discussions with Elon Musk around Tesla’s plans to set up an Indian factory, manufacturing a $24,000 car there, sourcing more components and establishing charging infrastructure across the nation, Reuters reported last week.

Later in the day, Goyal held bilateral meetings with Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative, Dukgeun Ahn, Minister of Trade, Republic of Korea, and Gan Kim Yong, minister of trade and industry, Singapore.

During these ministerial meetings, Piyush Goyal discussed potential collaboration under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), ways and means of further enhancing bilateral trade and commerce linkages, matters related to WTO, and other issues of mutual interest, Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement.

During the interaction with his Singaporean and South Korean counterparts, the Minister suggested expedited conclusion of the review of AITIGA and CEPA respectively, it added.

Further, the Union Minister participated in the Investors Round Table organized in collaboration with USISPF & Indiaspora attended by venture capitalists and entrepreneurs from a wide spectrum of Industry in the US, including from the domains of energy, manufacturing, logistics, technology, and so on.

At the session, wide ranging discussions with the participants were held and he highlighted the various steps taken by the Government of India to improve the ease of doing business in India.

It is to be noted that India has been invited to the 30th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting 2023 as a Guest Economy.

Commerce and Industry Minister will participate in the third in-person IPEF Ministerial meeting, and the engagements of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).