Musk plans Tesla and Starlink India debut after meeting PM Modi

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the company wants to invest in India and bring the electric carmaker there “as soon as humanly possible.”

Musk hopes to “announce something in the not too distant future” with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a “very good” conversation on Tuesday.

Tesla and New Delhi have resumed talks about incentives to enter the South Asian market. According to a source, SpaceX has resumed talks with India’s telecom ministry to launch Starlink, a satellite internet service.

Musk wants Tesla in India for years. He wants to bring the carmaker to the country by 2021, but he won’t commit until New Delhi offers big incentives.

Musk said last year that Tesla won’t build a plant in India until it can sell and service imported cars, more than a year after an Indian state said the electric carmaker was planning to open a plant in the south.

Musk called Modi a “big fan” Tuesday.

India is the most promising large nation. He cares about India because he wants us to invest heavily there, which we will. “We’re just figuring out the timing,” he said.

Musk said Tuesday that he was excited to bring Starlink to the country but did not provide a timeline. In late 2021, SpaceX subsidiary Starlink registered its business in India and hired a top executive to run it.

Starlink India’s executive, Sanjay Bhargava, resigned weeks later after the Indian government ordered SpaceX to stop taking orders for the devices because it didn’t have a license to operate in the South Asian market.

Musk’s meeting with Modi follows Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s explosive revelation earlier this month that India regularly ordered the social media giant to remove posts and accounts, often with legal threats.

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— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 20, 2023