Elon Musk’s India visit, scheduled for April 21 and 22, has been postponed, the Tesla CEO posted on social media platform X, hours after CNBC-TV18 reported the development on Saturday, quoting multiple sources familiar with the visit.
Musk was to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and announce plans to enter the India market.
“Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year,” he said.
On April 10, Musk had posted on social networking platform X that he was looking forward to meeting PM Modi. Just a few weeks before the planned visit, the Indian government had notified a new electric vehicle manufacturing policy allowing the government to give duty concessions to electric car companies committing to Make in India.
Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2024
At present, cars imported as completely built units (CBU) attract customs duty ranging from 70 per cent to 100 per cent, depending on the engine size and cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value. Among the large countries of the world, India has the highest import duties on cars.
Sources had earlier said Musk was likely to present a roadmap for total investment of around 20-30 billion dollars in India. However, there were chances that the Starlink agreement may not happen during this visit.
In an interview to news agency ANI, the prime minister was asked about how Musk had said he was a “Modi fan”. “Look, the first thing saying that Elon Musk is a supporter of Modi is one thing, basically, he is a supporter of India. And I just met him. It’s not like that,” Modi said.
Modi said he met Musk twice before – once during a factory visit in 2015 and the other, most recently, during his state visit to the US last year. Recalling the factory visit in 2015, he said the Tesla CEO had cancelled his pre-scheduled commitment to meet him.
“He showed me everything in his factory. And I understood his vision from him. I went there just now (to the US in 2023) and met him again. And now he is about to come to India,” the PM told ANI.
In June last year, Musk had met Modi during the prime minister’s US visit. The Tesla CEO had then said he planned to visit India in 2024, while expressing confidence that the company will enter the Indian market soon.
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