It was only a few months ago when we came to know about Elon Musk’s wish to visit India. The Tesla CEO said, through his Twitter handle, that he would visit India in early 2019. He added that Deepak Ahuja – the India-born man is serving as a chief financial officer at Tesla – called the shots on the company’s debut in India.
Ahuja was born and brought up in India but migrated to the United States to pursue higher studies and chose to stay there. The person, with no proven expertise in this particular area, has left many industry insiders baffled and they are curious to know what is actually going on behind the screen.
The most important question is whether Ahuja has always been in charge of deciding the company’s fate in India or he has been honored with the responsibility only recently. Will he be able to attune the timing of the electric carmaker’s entry into the country? Is the Indian market ready to welcome the company’s products?
According to some Tesla and tech experts, the CEO’s remark was nothing more than a quip that goes well with his character. But others, who know him personally, have a different opinion about his tweet. According to the second group, the billionaire businessperson sounded serious on the social network platform but his tweet is not akin to an official statement.
Vivek Wadhwa, an acclaimed fellow, and professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering said that the comment was not expected from the Tesla CEO. Wadhwa even went on to claim that he had talks with the CEO about India but was in dark about Ahuja’s role in this regard.
David Whiston, who is an equity analyst with Morningstar, thinks that Eton did not make any announcement and just wished to visit India. Whitson also added that though Ahuja had wealth of experience as he worked with Ford for many years but the person had no strong experience in India as far as Whitson is aware of.
Ahuja was in charge of Ford South Africa and at the helm of Ford-Mazda international joint venture ahead of starting his career with Tesla. Some people are suggesting that Mark’s comment was in reference to Ahuja’s connection in India.
Ahuja left India for the US when he was only 22-year old to enroll in master’s degree program in materials engineering. He comes from a business family. Ahuja’s father wanted him to join his family business after completing studies in the US. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology.
A Tesla representative has remarked that Ahuja plays a crucial role in taking three kinds of strategic decisions including if Tesla finds new markets and if yes when it is going to happen.
According to reports, some well-wishers urged Musk to speed up the company’s market expansion to India but not to make haste for selling cars in the country. They think, Tesla should use Indian market for its Powerwall home battery, as it would bring the company more profits if compared with car sale.
Nick is a content writer and very much interested in new findings in the automobile industry.
