NEW DELHI, March 15 (Reuters) - India on Friday said it will lower import taxes on certain electric vehicles for companies committing to at least $500 million in investment and a manufacturing facility within three years, potentially bolstering Tesla's market entry plans.

The new policy mandates companies to invest a minimum of $500 million in the country and will allow them three years to set up local manufacturing for EVs with at least 25% of the components sourced locally.

Companies that meet these requirements will be allowed to import 8,000 EVs a year at a lower import duty of 15% on cars costing $35,000 and above. India levies a tax of 70% or 100% on imported cars depending on their value.

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta and Aditi Shah; additional reporting by Aditya Kalra and Aftab Ahmed; editing by YP Rajesh and Jason Neely)