11/06/2026

Volkswagen is halting investments in India to make EVs

Volkswagen is halting investments in India to make EVs. It attempted two tie-ups with Indian entities with the first failing apart. Volkswagen thought of transferring the success it enjoyed in China just by uprooting its production facilities to India. It forgot about the underlying supply chains that are non-existent in India. India is insisting on using domestic supplies in India that is impossible to find. Those are just side issues.

What was the real underlying reason Volkswagen halted investments in India? Even before it started its venture of building a factory, the Indian Government is using backdated tax laws to fine Volkswagen US#1.2 billion for tax evasion. India is claiming that US$1.2 billion over a 12-year period, over imports which had already been cleared before by Indian Authorities.

To put that in perspective, Volkswagen's initial investment was US$1 billion, which was reduced to US$700 million over other issues with partners. That backdated tax bill is more than the investment that Volkswagen wanted to invest in India. Think about that.

Volkswagen should just forget about investing in India and pull out completely just like China ditching its investments in nickel production in Indonesia. When the time comes, everything will fall into the hands of the Indian partner.


Anonymous

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Pokey Sharma is more interested in poking China's collapse than India's own affairs. She has been shouting on her dung heap that China's AI is collapsing, paying little attention to what is happening in the USA and what the USA is doing to India.

Data centers and AI investments are in trouble in USA, mainly due to competition from Chinese AI and its own power shortages. Massive investments do not equate to massive earnings going forward, because using them is expensive and restrictive. Which is why laws are now being enacted to keep out Chinese AI. It is not going to kill off Chinese AI competition for sure, as elsewhere in the Global South usage of Chinese AI is rising. Even USA entities are using Chinese AI for its affordability without being much inferior to those created by investing hundreds of billions. Who will survive is clear to see.

The chips war is beginning to result in backfiring for the USA, Japan and South Korea. China is pushing resources into development of chips, mainly memory chips that Samsung and Hynix dominate today. That is going the way of Internal Combustion Engine cars, shipbuilding and electric and electronic equipment. China's rise in those sectors is not by chance or luck but by intention, and when China resorts to intention, others had better be prepared. But it is their own making trying to strangle China. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and no one does it better than China.