Tesla’s Call for Tax Breaks Rejected by India in Fresh Blow (1)

India turned down a demand of Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. for tax breaks to import electric cars, saying rules already allow bringing in partially-built vehicles and assembling them locally at a lower levy.

“We looked at whether the duties need to be re-jigged, but some domestic production is happening and some investments have come in with the current tariff structure,” Vivek Johri, chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, said in an interview Thursday. “So, it is clear that this is not a hindrance.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has encouraged Tesla to produce ...