BYD runs India remotely as China tensions shut out top brass
BYD Co.
is forging ahead with its attempts to expand in India despite roadblocks from the government that are preventing the electric vehicle maker from conducting key business dealings there.
Like most Chinese companies, BYD has been unable to obtain visas for executives after a deadly clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers along a disputed Himalayan border in 2020 sparked a major deterioration in political ties. That's seen the EV giant resort to holding board meetings and high-level business interactions in Colombo in Sri Lanka and Kathmandu in Nepal, and even as far away as Singapore, according to people familiar with the matter.
Explore courses from Top Institutes in
Please select course:
Select a Course Category
Healthcare
Design Thinking
CXO
healthcare
Management
PGDM
Data Analytics
Technology
MCA
Public Policy
Degree
Data Science
MBA
Operations Management
Finance
Others
Leadership
Cybersecurity
Product Management
Digital Marketing
Artificial Intelligence
Data Science
Project Management
others
Skills you'll gain:
Financial Analysis in Healthcare
Financial Management & Investing
Strategic Management in Healthcare
Process Design & Analysis
Duration:
12 Weeks
Indian School of Business
Certificate Program in Healthcare Management
Starts on
Jun 13, 2024
Get Details
Ketsu Zhang, BYD's managing director for India, has been unable to obtain a work permit since he left the EV maker's local base in Chennai, despite government efforts to facilitate his travel, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they're not authorized to speak publicly.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Kalimanggis: New Container Houses (Prices May Surprise You)
Container House | Search ads
Search Now
Undo
Zhang worked from the carmaker's headquarters in Shenzhen in 2021 before moving to Tokyo this year, they said. From Japan, he oversees Asian markets including India, the people said.
Also Read:
Chinese carmaker BYD launches smartphone-car connectivity feature
Live Events
An on-the-ground presence is particularly important for manufacturers, given the need for quick decision making, addressing productivity issues and establishing community ties.
Cold Shoulder
The cold shoulder is mutual. As recently as March, travel restrictions were still being wielded in the political spat. That month, an Indian contingent wanting to visit a major meeting of BYD car dealers in Shenzhen had to be scaled down after the majority of participants, including the company's employees based in India, were unable to obtain visas, a person familiar with the matter said.
A representative for BYD in India declined to comment.
Despite the operational difficulties, BYD has proved popular with Indian drivers — sales in the first half of this year are nearly touching the total units sold in 2024.
Also Read:
Tesla's long-awaited India debut bets on luxury vehicle buyers
Indian officials have been clear they won't welcome investment from the carmaker — Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said earlier this year that it's a 'no' to BYD due to caution around the nation's strategic interests.
India has already rejected BYD's $1 billion plan to build a plant in partnership with a local company. This leaves the Chinese firm unable to qualify for reduced tariffs on imported EVs in exchange for establishing a substantial manufacturing presence in India.
The freeze contrasts with the experience of Tesla Inc. Its Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk met with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US earlier this year. The US carmaker opened its first showrooms in India this month, with deliveries set to begin as early as August.
Tesla doesn't have plans to establish local manufacturing, meaning it faces import taxes of as much as 110% for fully-assembled vehicles.
Expanding overseas is critical for BYD, which risks missing its target to sell 5.5 million cars this year as demand in China stagnates and it draws the ire of Beijing following rounds of heavy price discounting.
But without the ability to invest in manufacturing in India, BYD relies on its assembly plant in the southern city of Chennai, which has annual capacity of 10,000 to 15,000 units, to meet Indian demand.
Hefty Duties
The company also imports most cars it sells in India, but hefty duties — aimed at shielding domestic firms — effectively double the cost of a vehicle and India restricts volumes unless a model has received a local roadworthiness certificate.
While tensions between China and India are thawing, it's unclear whether curbs on professional visas will be lifted or if BYD will ever be welcomed with open arms.
Still, there are tentative signs of progress. Earlier this month, India allowed Chinese nationals to apply for tourist visas again.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
5 minutes ago
- Time of India
Big Tech continues to hire in India even as local majors downsize
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills ETtech Indian IT services majors may be trimming their workforce, but for Big Tech, it's still hiring season in giants under the FAAMNG umbrella – Facebook parent Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, and Google – have grown their India headcount across their own and their affiliate entities by 16% over the past 12 months, data from staffing firm Xpheno pace of growth is slightly higher than 15% in the 12 months to August saw over 28,000 net employee additions in the past one year. The current estimated collective headcount across their entities in India is over 208,000, according to hiring rate 'is relatively healthy, especially with the buzz of AI potentially impacting pace and volume of hiring,' said Kamal Karanth, cofounder of companies continue to post healthy hiring demand in the country, with active openings at 4,500 currently, despite executing large-scale layoffs in the US, with an estimated 100,000 laid off Covid pandemic-induced hiring surge saw net additions for the FAAMNG cohort grow 35% year-on-year in 2022, followed by a slowdown to 6% growth in comparison, the top six Indian IT services firms saw headcount additions soar 22% on year in 2022, followed by declines by 0.2% and 3.1% in 2023 and 2024, respectively. As of June 2025, combined headcount in these firms grew 1.3% year-on-year to 1,625, the country's IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) on Sunday caused shockwaves as it announced layoff of 12,000 employees in mid-to-senior levels, citing skills mismatch in project global giants have also announced major layoffs in recent times, India has seen a lesser impact compared to many other geographies, experts noted.'While we do see some of this affecting India, the volumes so far are not as high as global numbers,' said Neeti Sharma, CEO of IT staffing firm TeamLease hiring in the industry is increasingly selective, with a focus on specialised skills, especially in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud.'There is a high demand for skills such as AI, cloud and cybersecurity,' while hiring is down for support and routine roles, especially in conventional technologies, Sharma said.'Few older roles will gradually become redundant. However, newer roles are being defined,' she said. 'This transition is tough now, but it's needed to stay relevant.'Employees face more pressure to perform and upskill, especially in AI and cloud, as companies focus on keeping top talent and building leaner teams, Sharma per Quess IT staffing, hiring by large tech firms in India dipped by 3-6% in the fourth quarter of FY2025 ended in March. However, it was up by about 8-10% in the first quarter FY2026, it said.'While global tech firms are making headlines for layoffs abroad, many are increasing hiring in India, especially through their GCCs,' said Kapil Joshi, CEO of Quess IT global capability centres (GCCs) are now doing more high-end work, such as developing AI tools, cloud platforms, and new digital products, he the same time, companies are seeing the need to balance costs while increasing focus on innovation, experts said.'They need to train people faster, close talent gaps, and compete for the best candidates in a tight market,' Joshi said.
Indian Express
5 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Tavleen Singh writes: Trump and his trumpeter
This week I was planning to write about Narendra Modi's image both here and in foreign lands. Readers of this column regularly berate me for writing more often about the Dynasty than the Prime Minister. They charge me with 'hatred' of the Gandhi family and troll me viciously. I was planning to bow to the demands of the box office and comment on Modi's stature at home and abroad. Especially abroad where on the world stage the most powerful leaders today are a collection of clowns, tyrants and brutal warmongers. This subject will have to be postponed for another time because Rahul Gandhi, always irresistible, said something that was so weird and mysterious that I found it hard to ignore. Days after he challenged the Prime Minister to say 'Donald Trump, you are a liar' inside the Lok Sabha, he suddenly found himself on Trump's side. The President of America, as has now been widely reported, said that the Indian economy was dead. A comment that in the eyes of most political analysts was both offensive and foolish but not in the opinion of the Leader of the Opposition. When reporters accosted him outside Parliament House and asked what he thought about Trump's remark, he said, 'But the Indian economy is dead. Trump is right. Everybody knows that the Indian economy is a dead economy…except the Prime Minister and the finance minister.' He added that the BJP had destroyed the Indian economy to help Gautam Adani. Now I am no economist, but you do not need to be one to know that this remark is both bizarre and bewildering. But, very much in keeping with the economic ideas Rahul Gandhi expressed during the election campaign in 2019 when it was Anil Ambani he was obsessed with. Remember those days when he and his sister campaigned with toy fighter jets in their hands to make the point that Modi made money out of buying Rafale jets. Mr. Ambani, in his view, was the launderer of this bribe. This was never established. Never proved. So Ambani was forgotten. To come back, though, to the 'dead Indian economy', may I say that Rahul Gandhi appears not to have any memories of those years when Granny was prime minister and the Indian economy was dead, dead, dead. Ask anyone who lived through those times, and they will tell you what shopping for groceries used to be like. There were shortages of the kind that countries experience only when there has been a war or a massive natural disaster. We queued and queued and queued. Daily necessities like bread, milk and sugar were always in short supply. And, when it came to 'luxuries' like cars, you could remain in the queue for ten years. The richest Indians did not dare invest for the fear that if they exceeded their quotas to produce cars, scooters and air-conditioners, they could be fined and sometimes jailed. The only businessmen who thrived in those times were smugglers. They smuggled in gold and household goods like toasters, irons, kettles, coffee makers and mixers and sold them for a huge profit. As for us ladies, we would sneak off to smugglers in Karol Bagh to buy cosmetics, perfumes and fancy underwear. Things began to change only when the license raj ended. And one of the beneficiaries of this was Narendra Modi. I have never forgotten that first campaign of his when he talked of how government had no business to be in business. One of the reasons why people like me supported him was because of the hope that he would dismantle what remains of the licence raj and curb the evil officials who end one regulation only to make two more. They lived better in those central planning days than big businessmen and they had more power. They could destroy major industrialists with just a single signature. And they knew that they would get away with this because the political leaders who were their bosses were all lefties of the most committed kind. If the Leader of the Opposition wants to understand the real meaning of a 'dead economy', he needs to go back to his economics tutor and ask him to loan him some books on Nehruvian socialism. A short course is all he needs, not a degree, but a short course is essential because he leads our oldest political party and the only one that can challenge the BJP. Meanwhile, he would do well to keep his economic ideas to himself because they are ideas that are truly dead. My grievance against Modi is that he has failed to dismantle the remnants of the licence raj. He allows his bureaucrats too free a hand to make rules and regulations that crush real enterprise. Government-sponsored startups and unicorns are just a new incarnation of the public sector. What we need is a new generation of economic reforms that would truly make it easier to do business and India will take off beyond anyone's imagination. Trump's tariffs could turn into a real opportunity for India instead of being the threat that they currently appear to be. But for this to happen, Modi needs to remember that he once believed that the government had no business to be in business. Meanwhile, Rahulji can go back to his economics tutor and ask him to explain clearly why the Indian economy is not dead.
Economic Times
5 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Big Tech continues to hire in India even as local majors downsize
iStock Indian IT services majors may be trimming their workforce, but for Big Tech, it's still hiring season in giants under the FAAMNG umbrella – Facebook parent Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, and Google – have grown their India headcount across their own and their affiliate entities by 16% over the past 12 months, data from staffing firm Xpheno showed. The pace of growth is slightly higher than 15% in the 12 months to August 2024. FAAMNG saw over 28,000 net employee additions in the past one year. The current estimated collective headcount across their entities in India is over 208,000, according to hiring rate 'is relatively healthy, especially with the buzz of AI potentially impacting pace and volume of hiring,' said Kamal Karanth, cofounder of companies continue to post healthy hiring demand in the country, with active openings at 4,500 currently, despite executing large-scale layoffs in the US, with an estimated 100,000 laid off Covid pandemic-induced hiring surge saw net additions for the FAAMNG cohort grow 35% year-on-year in 2022, followed by a slowdown to 6% growth in 2023. By comparison, the top six Indian IT services firms saw headcount additions soar 22% on year in 2022, followed by declines by 0.2% and 3.1% in 2023 and 2024, respectively. As of June 2025, combined headcount in these firms grew 1.3% year-on-year to 1,625, the country's IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) on Sunday caused shockwaves as it announced layoff of 12,000 employees in mid-to-senior levels, citing skills mismatch in project deployments. Selective hiring While global giants have also announced major layoffs in recent times, India has seen a lesser impact compared to many other geographies, experts noted.'While we do see some of this affecting India, the volumes so far are not as high as global numbers,' said Neeti Sharma, CEO of IT staffing firm TeamLease hiring in the industry is increasingly selective, with a focus on specialised skills, especially in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud.'There is a high demand for skills such as AI, cloud and cybersecurity,' while hiring is down for support and routine roles, especially in conventional technologies, Sharma said.'Few older roles will gradually become redundant. However, newer roles are being defined,' she said. 'This transition is tough now, but it's needed to stay relevant.'Employees face more pressure to perform and upskill, especially in AI and cloud, as companies focus on keeping top talent and building leaner teams, Sharma per Quess IT staffing, hiring by large tech firms in India dipped by 3-6% in the fourth quarter of FY2025 ended in March. However, it was up by about 8-10% in the first quarter FY2026, it said.'While global tech firms are making headlines for layoffs abroad, many are increasing hiring in India, especially through their GCCs,' said Kapil Joshi, CEO of Quess IT global capability centres (GCCs) are now doing more high-end work, such as developing AI tools, cloud platforms, and new digital products, he the same time, companies are seeing the need to balance costs while increasing focus on innovation, experts said.'They need to train people faster, close talent gaps, and compete for the best candidates in a tight market,' Joshi said. Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Zomato delivered, but did the other listed unicorns? US tariff hike to hit Indian exports, may push RBI towards rate cuts Will TCS layoffs open the floodgates of mass firing at Indian IT firms? Indian IT firms never reveal the truth hiding behind 'strong' deal wins Is Bajaj Finance facing its HDFC Bank moment? Tata Motors' INR38k crore Iveco buy: Factors that can make investors nervous Stock Radar: Strides Pharma stock hits fresh 52-week high in July; will the rally continue in August? F&O Radar| Deploy Short Strangle in Nifty to gain from Theta decay For investors who can think beyond Trump: 5 large-cap stocks with an upside potential of up to 36%
