Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company intends to “make significant investments in India” in the near future, following a meeting with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in New York on Tuesday.
“I’m confident that Tesla will be in India and we’ll do so as soon as humanly possible,” Musk told reporters, adding that he hopes to visit the country personally in 2024.
On Twitter, Modi said the two had “multifaceted conversations on issues ranging from energy to spirituality.” The prime minister invited Musk to invest in the country’s electric vehicle and commercial space sectors, according to a tweet from India’s foreign ministry.
Great meeting you today @elonmusk! We had multifaceted conversations on issues ranging from energy to spirituality. Https://t.co/r0mzwNbTyNpic.twitter.com/IVwOy5SlMV
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 21, 2023
A new factory
Tesla’s CEO suggested earlier this year that the electric carmaker would announce the location of a new factory by the end of the year. The company currently has several factories in the U.S., as well as plants near Berlin and Shanghai. It has also announced a new factory in Monterrey, Mexico, which is expected to start operations in 2024.
Modi isn’t the only head of state lobbying Musk for a Tesla factory. Both Indonesian president Joko Widodo and South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol pitched their countries in meetings with Tesla’s CEO over the past year. France, Spain, and Italy are also vying to be the home of what would be Tesla’s second European factory.
A Tesla investment in India would be a significant turnaround from an earlier effort to break into the market in 2021. India charges high import duties on electric vehicles, and demanded that Tesla invest in local manufacturing before it reduced them. Tesla, in contrast, said it wanted to import cars first to test the domestic appetite for EVs.
Recent trips to India by Tesla’s executives suggest the company is now open to building an India-based plant. The carmaker is “very seriously looking at India,” said deputy technology minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar to Reuters in May.
Modi’s U.S. Visit
India’s prime minister is currently on a state visit to the U.S. He will meet President Joe Biden on Thursday, and is expected to meet U.S. CEOs like Apple’s Tim Cook and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella.
India hopes to gain from the worsening relationship between China and Western governments, particularly the U.S. The country is expected to buy drones from the U.S. During Modi’s visit, as well as sign an agreement to manufacture jet-fighter engines domestically.
“There is unprecedented trust” between India and the U.S., Modi told the Wall Street Journal before his visit.
Yet India maintains close relations with Russia, even after the latter’s invasion of Ukraine last year. The country buys half of its military equipment from Russia, according to the Wall Street Journal, and is also a major customer for Russian oil.
Critics argue that the Modi government has taken a more anti-democratic and Hindu nationalist turn. Several dozen Democratic lawmakers have called on Biden to raise human rights concerns with Modi during his state visit.
White House officials say Biden will do so—in private, according to Politico.