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Elon Musk has announced on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that he will visit India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi without giving a date.<\/b><\/p>\n
The Tesla boss is expected to announce major investment plans in the country soon.<\/p>\n
Last month, India cut import taxes on electric vehicles (EV) for global carmakers which commit to investing $500m (\u00a3399m) and starting local production within three years.<\/p>\n
In 2021, the Tesla boss said that India’s high import duties had prevented the firm from launching its cars in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.<\/p>\n
Mr Musk wrote in a post on Wednesday, external<\/span><\/a>: “Looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India!”<\/p>\n A senior Indian government official told the BBC that the meeting is scheduled for the last week of April and will take place at Mr Modi\u2019s official residence in New Delhi.<\/p>\n The BBC understands that Tesla\u2019s plans for starting manufacturing in India will feature in the talks.<\/p>\n Tesla did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.<\/p>\n Mr Musk’s visit comes just as the country begins voting in marathon, six-week-long elections on 19 April.<\/p>\n Mr Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is widely expected to win a third term in power.<\/p>\n A Tesla investment announcement during the election would bolster the business-friendly credentials of Mr Modi, who has courted foreign companies to set up manufacturing operations in India and create jobs.<\/p>\n The two men met last June in New York when the technology multi-billionaire said Mr Modi had been “pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something that we intend to do”.<\/p>\n Tesla’s plans to move into India comes at a time when the company is battling weakening sales in the US and China.<\/p>\n Deliveries slid sharply in the first three months of this year<\/a> as Tesla grappled with a fire at its European factory, global shipping disruption and growing competition.<\/p>\n Tesla has cut prices repeatedly in response to increased competition from rivals such as BYD but demand in key markets like China has fallen.<\/p>\n Tesla’s shares have lost almost a third of their value since the start of this year.<\/p>\n India overtook the UK in 2022 to become the world’s fifth-largest economy, and grew by 8.4% in the December quarter<\/a>, helped by a surging manufacturing sector.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n