By Aditya Kalra and Aditi Shah

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - U.S. electric carmaker Tesla has signed a lease deal to open its first showroom in Mumbai, as it moves towards a goal to sell imported cars in India, registration papers show, after it dropped similar plans last year.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The papers show the company has signed a five-year lease from February 16, 2025 and will pay rent of about $446,000 for the first year for a 4,003 square feet (372 square meter) space, almost the size of a basketball court.

The rent will increase by 5% every year reaching about $542,000 for the fifth year, according to the registered lease document provided to Reuters by analytics firm CRE Matrix.

The showroom will be situated in the Maker Maxity building in the business and retail hub of Bandra Kurla Complex near the city's airport, according to the papers.

Reuters reported last month that Tesla has selected locations for two showrooms in the Indian cities of New Delhi and Mumbai, days after the carmaker's chief Elon Musk met India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the U.S.

(Additional reporting by Munsif Vengattil; editing by Barbara Lewis)