NEW YORK: Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was pushing the car maker to make a “significant investment” in the country and such an announcement was expected soon.
His comments came after a meeting with Modi on Tuesday during the Indian leader’s state visit to the United States. Musk was expected to brief Modi on plans to set up a manufacturing base in India.
India has strong potential for a sustainable energy future including solar power, stationary battery packs and electric vehicles, Musk said, adding that he hopes to bring SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service to India as well.
“He (Modi) really cares about India because he’s pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something we intend to do,” Musk told reporters after the meeting. “I am confident that Tesla will be in India and will do so as soon as humanly possible.”
Later, India’s foreign ministry spokesperson tweeted saying Modi had invited Musk to “explore opportunities in India for investments in electric mobility and rapidly expanding commercial space sector.”
Modi – who met Musk for the first time since he bought out Twitter in a $44 billion deal last year – tweeted, “Great meeting you today Elon Musk! We had multifaceted conversations on issues ranging from energy to spirituality.” To this, Musk replied, “It was an honour to meet again.”
“I am incredibly excited about the future of India. It has more promise than any other large country in the world and the PM really cares about India… because he is pursuing us to make a significant investment… which is something we need to do. In a nutshell, it was a fantastic meeting with the prime minister.”
“I am a fan of PM Modi,” Musk told reporters after the meeting.
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Great meeting you today @elonmusk! We had multifaceted conversations on issues ranging from energy to spirituality. https://t.co/r0mzwNbTyN pic.twitter.com/IVwOy5SlMV
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 21, 2023
India is looking to allow some US companies to initially collaborate with Indian firms for investments in its space sector. India opened the way for private launches in 2020 and wants private space companies to increase their share of the global launch market by five-fold within the next decade.
Executives of Tesla visited India and held talks with Indian bureaucrats and ministers last month on establishing a manufacturing base for cars and batteries in India.
Musk said last month Tesla would probably pick a location for a new factory by the end of this year, adding India was an interesting place for a new plant. Tesla last year shelved its India entry plans due to high import tax structures.
Modi’s meeting with Musk came days after Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey accused India of threatening to shut down the platform for not complying with content takedown orders during a 2020-2021 protest.
“Twitter does not have a choice but to obey local governments. If we don’t obey local government laws, we will get shut down,” Musk told reporters.
