Elon Musk to make major Tesla announcement on upcoming visit to India?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this week that he will be visiting India to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will likely announce an investment and the opening of a factory in the country, Hindustan Times reported.

“Looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India!”, he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The tech billionaire, accompanied by other executives, is set to meet Modi in New Delhi on April 22 and will announce his plans separately, Reuters reported citing two sources who also said that Musk’s India trip agenda could change.

Musk would be visiting India just as it heads into a two-month-long election, with nearly a billion voters expected.

A Tesla investment announcement during the election would strengthen Modi’s business-friendly credentials and aims for foreign companies to set up manufacturing operations in India and create jobs.

Musk and Modi met in New York in June last year, and Tesla has been lobbying India to lower import taxes on electric vehicles.

India recently introduced a new EV policy, lowering import taxes to 15% from 100% on some models if a manufacturer invests at least $500 million and sets up a factory too.

Tesla officials will be visiting India this month to explore potential manufacturing sites for a $2 billion investment.

The company has also started right-hand drive car production at its German plant for export to India later this year, Reuters reported.

This week, on X, Musk said: “India should have electric cars like every other country has electric cars. It’s a natural progression to provide Tesla electric vehicles in India”.

Tesla’s push into India comes amid slowing EV demand in US and Chinese markets, and missed analyst estimates in Q1 deliveries.