Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a telephonic conversation with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, revisiting key themes from their earlier meeting in Washington DC. The dialogue underscored mutual interest in deepening strategic cooperation between India and the United States in the domains of advanced technology and innovation.
"Spoke to Elon Musk and talked about various issues, including the topics we covered during our meeting in Washington DC earlier this year," Prime Minister Modi shared via his official handle on X.
The conversation comes amid heightened interest from Musk’s ventures—most notably Tesla and Starlink—in expanding operations within the Indian market. Tesla has been actively engaging with Indian authorities over plans to establish a manufacturing facility in the country. Simultaneously, SpaceX is exploring opportunities to introduce its Starlink satellite-based internet services in India.
In March, Reliance Jio announced a strategic collaboration with SpaceX to facilitate Starlink's entry into the Indian telecom space. Similarly, Bharti Airtel, led by telecom magnate Sunil Bharti Mittal, has inked a comparable agreement with SpaceX to explore satellite internet deployment.
Prime Minister Modi and Elon Musk previously met during the Prime Minister's official visit to the United States in February. The interaction reflected optimism regarding future cooperation in high-growth sectors such as electric mobility, clean energy, and space exploration.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Modi presented a selection of Indian literary works to Musk’s children, including The Crescent Moon by Rabindranath Tagore, The Great RK Narayan Collection, and Panchatantra by Vishnu Sharma. Photographs later shared on social media depicted the children engrossed in these books.
In a prior post, the Prime Minister had remarked, “Had a very good meeting with Elon Musk 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.'"
The latest exchange between Modi and Musk takes place at a critical juncture. Starlink’s pending request for operating permissions in India remains under security clearance review. This also coincides with ongoing discussions over a prospective India–US bilateral trade agreement, with both governments aiming to conclude the first phase of the deal by September or October this year.
Meanwhile, the Indian government has already issued provisional licenses to competing satellite internet providers—Eutelsat OneWeb (backed by the Bharti Group) and Jio Satellite Communications—for a period of approximately 18 months. However, full-scale operations remain on hold pending the finalization of spectrum allocation policies.
Starlink is widely seen as a potential disruptor in the satellite internet market. It currently operates the world’s largest active satellite constellation, with over 6,750 satellites in orbit—significantly ahead of Eutelsat OneWeb’s 600 satellites and the 70 operated by Jio’s global partners.
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