Tesla CEO Elon Musk postpones anticipated visit to India
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has postponed his two-day trip to India, according to Reuters. The visit was scheduled to include a roundtable discussion with Indian space start-ups and a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On April 10, Musk announced on social media: "Looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India!" The delay comes amid challenging times for Tesla, characterized by declining sales in key markets, and recent layoffs affecting 10% of its workforce.
India's new policy to lure EV makers
India's central government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), introduced a new electric vehicle (EV) policy in March. This policy significantly reduces import taxes to 15% from as high as 100% on some models, if an automaker invests at least $500 million and establishes a factory. Musk's visit was expected to unveil Tesla's strategy for entering the world's third-largest auto market. Analysts predict that around 5% of all automobiles in India will be EVs by 2030—up from current 2%.
A visit to promote Starlink and foreign investment
In addition to discussing Tesla's entry into India, Musk's visit was also set to promote Starlink, a project by his company SpaceX. Starlink aims to provide reliable internet speeds using a constellation of thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites. On April 16, the Ministry of Finance notified amended rules under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, to operationalize its decision to allow up to 100% foreign direct investment for the space sector through three categories of liberalized entry routes.
Musk's previous meeting with PM Modi
Musk and PM Modi had previously met during the latter's visit to the United States in June of the previous year. During this meeting, Musk shared his plans to visit India in 2024, and Tesla's intention to enter the Indian market by setting up a factory. It was anticipated that Musk would announce an investment of $2-3 billion for this factory in India. Now, neither Tesla nor the PM's office have responded to the postponement, Reuters states.
