Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he spoke to Tesla CEO Elon Musk about various issues, including the topics the two had covered during the PM’s visit to the United States earlier this year.
“Spoke to Elon Musk and talked about various issues, including the topics we covered during our meeting in Washington DC earlier this year,” Modi wrote on X.
“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,” PM Modi said.
Modi’s conversation with Musk comes days before US Vice President J D Vance is scheduled to visit India next week.
This also comes in the middle of negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement between India and the US.
Modi had met with Elon Musk, whose business empire includes Tesla and SpaceX, in February during his two-day visit to the United States.
The Spacex CEO was accompanied by his three children when he arrived at the Blair House, the US President’s guest house, where the prime minister stayed.
“Had a very good meeting with @elonmusk in Washington DC. We discussed various issues, including those he is passionate about such as space, mobility, technology and innovation. I talked about India’s efforts towards reform and furthering ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’”, Modi posted on X on February 13.
The MEA, in a statement, had said that Modi and Musk discussed about strengthening collaboration between Indian and US entities in innovation, space exploration, artificial intelligence, and sustainable development.
The Tesla CEO was expected to visit India last year, before the Indian national elections, but the trip was postponed at that time. Musk was expected to pledge to pump more than $2 billion into a car manufacturing facility in India, and make a statement on a longer-term investment commitment.
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Electric passenger car sales have been strong in India, albeit on a tiny scale. India has rolled out a policy tailored for Tesla to import 8,000 electric cars annually into the country at a sharply reduced 15 per cent duty.
