Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has stated that the electric vehicle manufacturer will enter India “as soon as humanly possible.” Following a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is paying a state visit to the US, he made these remarks.
The Indian government announced that it has invited Musk to look into potential opportunities in the field of commercial space travel and electric transportation.
According to Musk, he was “trying to figure out the right timing” to bring about that.
Days prior to Modi’s meeting with Musk, Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of the social media platform Twitter, accused India of threatening to shut down the platform if it did not comply with its requests that content be removed from the website.
The Indian government vehemently refuted Dorsey’s accusations, calling them “an outright lie” in an interview with an independent news programme.
On Wednesday, Elon Musk responded to the incident and claimed that Twitter had no choice but to follow local laws or “we will get shut down. We will do our best to provide the freest speech that is possible under the law,” he said.
Additionally, Musk identified himself as a “fan” of Modi and asserted that India held “more promise than any other large nation in the world.”
Talking to reporters, he said, “He [Mr Modi] really cares about India because he’s pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something we intend to do. We are just trying to figure out the right timing. I am confident that Tesla will be in India and will do so as soon as humanly possible.”
As it seeks to penetrate the local market, Tesla has been in discussions with Indian governments and bureaucrats.
Last month, Tesla had suggested building an electric vehicle factory and was also looking into producing EV batteries in the nation. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a government minister, had told the agency in May that “they are very seriously looking at India as a production and innovation base.”
Last year, the company’s first intentions to establish a base in India were cancelled as the Indian government required Tesla produce cars there rather than exporting them to the country first to gauge demand.
Musk expressed the goal of bringing Starlink satellite internet service, run by his business, as well.
