Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has confirmed that he has been in talks with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, where both leaders revisited earlier discussions held in Washington DC and explored new avenues of cooperation in “technology and innovation”. Modi announced the development through a post on social media platform X.
“Spoke to @elonmusk and talked about various issues, including the topics we covered during our meeting in Washington DC earlier this year. We discussed the immense potential for collaboration in the areas of technology and innovation. India remains committed to advancing our partnerships with the US in these domains,” Modi stated on the erstwhile Twitter.
The renewed India-US talks also comes at a time when the US, under President Donald Trump, has taken a more protectionist stance with tariffs targeting Chinese goods. India too has faced tariffs, with a 27% rate imposed by the US in early April. However, a 90-day pause on these tariffs has created a temporary window for economic negotiations, during which India is pushing for the finalization of a bilateral trade agreement.
Although no official confirmation was provided during the call regarding Tesla’s immediate plans, the broader context suggests that discussions around Tesla’s entry into the Indian market remain active. Earlier this year, Tesla began advertising job openings in India, which signaled preliminary efforts to build a local team. The positions, advertised on LinkedIn, included both back-end operations and customer-facing roles. If finalized, this move would give a boost to India’s EV infrastructure. Modi and Musk have been in talks before – the last one was in Washington in February, wherein the two leaders discussed topics including electric mobility, space cooperation, and technology governance. At that time, Musk had described the conversation as “excellent.”
Tesla’s entry into India has been a topic of speculation for several years, but high import duties on electric vehicles had long delayed any concrete movement. That changed last year when the Indian government revised its import duty policy for electric vehicles, reducing the rate for high-end models priced above $40,000 from 110% to 70%. This reduction was conditioned on the establishment of local manufacturing operations with a minimum investment threshold of $500 million.
In parallel to the Tesla developments, SpaceX’s satellite internet unit Starlink has also been pursuing an India entry. Starlink’s ambitions include partnering with major domestic telecom providers (such as Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel) to deliver satellite broadband across the country. In March, these companies entered into agreements with SpaceX to begin initial groundwork for the deployment of Starlink services. The advantages of having Starlink’s services in India are manifold – with India’s vast geography and regulatory hurdles, this partnership could bridge the digital divide, particularly in remote regions, and help increase internet penetration.
However, Starlink’s India launch has been held back by regulatory bottlenecks. The company is awaiting government clearance related to spectrum allocation and national security concerns. Despite the delays, senior Starlink executives, including Vice President Chad Gibbs and Senior Director Ryan Goodnight, recently met with Piyush Goyal, India’s Commerce and Industry Minister, to discuss the company’s investment roadmap in the country.
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