By. Staff Report
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met SpaceX CEO Elon Musk during his visit to the U.S. to meet President Donald Trump. Musk was recently chosen by Trump to head a new U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The exact nature of the meeting points out unclear, although Modi said on X that the two men “discussed various issues, including those he is passionate about such as space, mobility, technology and innovation.”
Modi and Musk also met each other in New York in 2023. At that time Musk said he was “confident that Tesla will be in India … as soon as humanly possible.”
Modi and Musk met each other on Thursday during the Indian prime minister’s visit to the U.S. While Musk was accompanied by his three young children, Modi was notably flanked by his top advisers — including External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
Later, at a joint press conference with Modi at the White House, Trump said he wasn’t sure why Musk met the Indian prime minister, but he assumed Musk “wants to do business in India.”
“I would imagine he met, possibly, because you know he’s running a company,” Trump told reporters.
India’s foreign ministry in a statement said Modi and Musk “discussed strengthening collaboration between Indian and U.S. entities in innovation, space exploration, artificial intelligence and sustainable development” and on “entrepreneurship and good governance.”
Musk, who previously called himself a “fan of Modi,” has long wanted his Starlink satellite internet service to make an entry into the Indian market. Its launch, however, has been delayed due to regulatory challenges, security concerns and opposition from domestic telecom giants like Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio.
Also, India’s electric vehicle market is still nascent and made up a little more than 2% of total car sales last year. But the government wants to change that and increase the electric vehicle share to 30% by 2030.
India also recently unveiled a new policy that extends concessional tariffs on fully imported electric vehicles made by foreign carmakers who commit to starting local manufacturing.