Author: Staff Writer

Tesla has taken a significant step towards its India expansion, reportedly securing a prime office space in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).

The Elon Musk-led electric carmaker has leased a 4,003-square-foot space in the Maker Maxity building. The licensee for the agreement, reports claim, is Tesla India Motor & Energy Pvt., which currently operates from Panchsheel Business Park in Pune’s Viman Nagar. The licensor is Univco Properties LLP. As part of the lease deal, Tesla India has put down a security deposit of Rs 2.11 crore and will pay Rs 35.26 lakh in monthly rent, with a 5 per cent annual escalation.

The agreement is valid for five years.

The move comes amid intensifying discussions surrounding Tesla’s entry into India. On Feb. 13, Musk met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, DC, fueling speculation about the company’s long-awaited arrival. Since then, Tesla has listed 20 job openings across India—15 in Mumbai and five in Pune—and is actively exploring showroom locations in Mumbai and Delhi. Tesla’s India launch is likely to happen in the second half of 2025, with the Model Y expected to be the first offering. The vehicle is anticipated to be priced between Rs 60-70 lakh, positioning it against entry-level electric offerings from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi. If Tesla’s pricing stays above Rs 50 lakh, it could challenge the dominance of German luxury carmakers. If priced in the Rs 25-35 lakh range, the competition would extend to Indian manufacturers like Tata Motors and Mahindra. For Tesla, India could provide a much-needed boost.

The company is facing slowing sales globally, with declining shipments across key markets like the U.S., Germany, and China—where it already operates multiple factories. However, an immediate manufacturing facility in India appears unlikely, with Tesla initially expected to import its vehicles. The Tesla Model 3, the company’s most affordable offering, is expected to cost between Rs 35-40 lakh in India. This estimate considers a base price of around $35,000 (approximately Rs 30.4 lakh) in the U.S., reduced import duties of 15-20 per cent, and additional costs such as road tax and insurance. A calculation suggests that the total cost of owning a Model 3 in India could be around Rs 45.5 lakh, factoring in road tax (Rs 3.5 lakh), insurance (Rs 1.75 lakh), and an import duty of 15 per cent (Rs 5.25 lakh).

The push for greater accountability in government is gaining momentum, with calls for corporate-style efficiency now extending to public offices.

Gurmeet Chadha, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Complete Circle, in a post on X questioned why government employees and public servants should be exempt from the rigorous performance reviews common in private organisations.

"I remember having weekly MIS & monthly reviews in every organisation I worked—ACC, HDFC, Nippon, Citibank. Why should govt employees & public servants be any different?" Chadha wrote, suggesting that leaders like NR Narayana Murthy, Aditya Puri, Nandan Nilekani, or Anand Mahindra be brought in to overhaul the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in India.

This demand for accountability echoes recent developments in the US, where federal employees were given an ultimatum—list their weekly accomplishments or be deemed to have resigned. The move, backed by Elon Musk and the Trump administration, is stirring controversy over its potential impact on the workforce. Over the weekend, US government employees received an email instructing them to submit a list of their accomplishments from the past week or risk resignation.

The directive came shortly after Elon Musk posted on X, stating that employees would "shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week," adding, "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."

The email, which had the subject line "What did you do last week?", was sent by HR and requested employees to submit five bullet points summarizing their work, without including classified information, by midnight on Monday. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal government's HR agency, later confirmed the email’s authenticity, stating that it was part of an initiative to make the federal workforce "more efficient and accountable."

Musk, a vocal proponent of cost-cutting measures, has been at the forefront of a sweeping restructuring of government agencies under the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with the White House’s approval. Thousands of employees at the IRS, Pentagon, and FAA have already been dismissed in recent weeks as part of the downsizing effort. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing federal workers, strongly condemned the move. "Once again, Elon Musk and the Trump Administration have shown their utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people," said union president Everett Kelley, vowing to challenge any unlawful terminations.

Meanwhile, newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel urged his agency’s employees to ignore the OPM directive for now. "FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information. The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with the FBI procedures," Patel stated in an internal memo.

The policy closely mirrors Musk’s approach to employee management during his Twitter takeover in 2022 when he issued ultimatums requiring staff to commit to an "extremely hardcore" work culture or resign. Trump has openly supported Musk’s actions, celebrating them as a step toward cutting bureaucratic inefficiencies. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), he declared,

"We're removing all of the unnecessary, incompetent, and corrupt bureaucrats from the federal workforce. We want to make government smaller, more efficient. We want to keep the best people, and we're not going to keep the worst people."

US President Donald Trump has ordered a pause in the enforcement of a nearly half-century-old law that was used to go after the Adani Group under the previous Biden administration.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) bans firms and people with US ties from offering money or gifts to foreign officials to secure business overseas.

President Trump had considered pausing the law during his first term.

“It sounds good on paper, but in [practice] it’s a disaster,” President Trump said on the FCPA, the British daily, “Financial Times”, reported. “It means that if an American goes over to a foreign country and starts doing business over there legally, legitimately or otherwise, it's almost a guaranteed investigation, indictment and nobody wants to do business with the Americans because of it.”

The order marks one of the boldest enforcement policies issued by the Trump administration, “FT” reported.

“… Over-expansive and unpredictable FCPA enforcement against American citizens and businesses — by our own Government — for routine business practices in other nations not only wastes limited prosecutorial resources that could be dedicated to preserving American freedoms, but actively harms American economic competitiveness and, therefore, national security,” the White House said in a statement on pausing the FCPA.

“It is therefore the policy of my Administration to preserve the Presidential authority to conduct foreign affairs and advance American economic and national security by eliminating excessive barriers to American commerce abroad,” President Trump's executive order said.
The executive order that President Trump signed asked the US Attorney General to “review in detail all existing FCPA investigations or enforcement actions and take appropriate action with respect to such matters to restore proper bounds on FCPA enforcement and preserve Presidential foreign policy prerogatives”.

Following the executive order to pause the enforcement of the FCPA, stocks of all Adani Group firms saw substantial gains on 11 February. The most notable gainer was Adani Enterprises Ltd, whose stock rose 4.28 per cent. Following closely was Adani Power Ltd, which rose 4.17 per cent to Rs 511.90 apiece.

Adani Green Energy Ltd was the third top gainer, as it rose 3.34 per cent to Rs 985.90 apiece. New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) stock rose 3.84 per cent to Rs 145 apiece. The shares of Adani Energy Solutions Ltd, Adani Total Gas Ltd, and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd also saw gains.

On 10 February, six US Congressmen in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi said the previous Department of Justice's (DoJ) action was a “misguided crusade” that came at the “risk of harming” America's relationship with a “strategic geopolitical partner” like India.

They called it one of the “unwise decisions” by the Biden administration.

“This case rests on the allegation that preparations were made by members of this company in India to bribe Indian officials, also exclusively located in India. Instead of deferring the case to the appropriate Indian authorities, the Biden DoJ decided to push forward and indict the company's executives without any real injury to US interests being present,” the six Congressmen said.

Earlier, the Adani Group — the largest and fastest-growing portfolio of diversified businesses in India — had last year strongly denied allegations by the Biden administration that some company officials were part of an alleged scheme to pay over $250 million bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.

The Adani Group has interests in logistics (seaports, airports, logistics, shipping and rail), resources, power generation and distribution, renewable energy, gas and infrastructure, agro (commodities, edible oil, food products, cold storage and grain silos), real estate, public transport infrastructure, consumer finance and defence, and other sectors.