Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk hinted that he intends to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon. He released a statement on X (Twitter) saying “Looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India”.
Elon Musk has never visited India before. This will be the first time he will be going to India and that is on an official visit. He did not even attend Anant Ambani’s recent pre-wedding celebrations where other billionaires were present — maybe because Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates were there.
Elon Musk’s visit to India is going to be a very important chapter both in Tesla and Indian history. According to Reuters, Musk is expected to announce a Tesla factory in India.
A Tesla factory in India will be a significant investment and employment opportunity for the country. But we shouldn’t be expecting a car factory there. Tesla will most likely invest in a solar panel and Megapack large battery plant in India just like the one in Lathrop, California.
In 2015, when Narendra Modi visited Tesla’s Fremont factory, Elon Musk suggested him to start with the production of Powerwalls and large battery packs to fulfill India’s rising energy needs. Tesla will largely contribute to the sustainable energy production of the country.
Tesla was registered in India with the name of “Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited” in 2021. Tesla even acquired an office in Bangalore which is expected to be the company’s HQ in India. The name suggests that Tesla Energy will be the main focus of Tesla before going into the business of cars in India.
When Prime Minister Modi met Elon Musk last year, Musk talked to the media for a few minutes to give his views on the meeting. An Indian journalist asked Musk how he looks at the investment opportunity in India, and Musk replied:
Well, I think there’s tremendous amounts of potential for all three pillars of the sustainable energy future. The three pillars being sustainable energy generation through solar and wind primarily, and also india is great for Solar and the amount of land area that you actually need to generate enough electricity to power India is very small.
I think it probably would be 1 or 2 percent of the land area of India. So, it’s very doable. And then you need to pair it with stationary battery pack because the Sun doesn’t shine at night and then you need electric vehicles and then you have a sustainable energy future.
And I think that you’ll find that this is the lower-cost way to go as well that may surprise people.
In his talk from last year’s meeting with Narendra Modi, Musk shows his clear intent to primarily focus on the generation of sustainable energy. He only talked about electric vehicles at the end of his comments and did not mention Tesla cars launching in the country at all.
As far as cars go, except for big cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Dehli — there is not a large market penetration for luxury electric cars. India is densely populated and although it’s a growing economy, the majority of citizens can only dream of a Tesla except for the affluent class.
Living in a much similar neighborhood country, I am quite aware of the road conditions and traffic situation in India. Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving will need 100X AI training to at least start functioning in these road conditions compared to North America. The road infrastructure in most areas is like a 3rd-world country and massive patches are unmarked without any signs.
According to the sources at Reuters, Elon Musk is expected to visit India in the last week of April.
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