Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, promised that his electric vehicle company would enter India "as soon as humanly possible.".
His remarks came after a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is currently in the US on a state visit.
According to the Indian government, Mr. Musk was invited to look into investment opportunities in the field of commercial space travel and electric transportation.
Musk stated that he was "trying to figure out the right timing" to bring about that outcome.
The meeting between Mr. Modi and Mr. Musk, who also owns Twitter, took place a few days after Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, claimed that India had threatened to shut down the platform if it had not complied with its requests to remove content from the website.
The Indian government categorically denied Mr. Dorsey's accusations, calling them "an outright lie," during an interview with a non-government news program.
On Wednesday, Elon Musk responded to the incident and warned Twitter that if it didn't comply with local laws, "we will be shut down.".
We will make every effort to allow for as much freedom of speech as is permitted by the law, he promised.
India had "more promise than any large country in the world," claimed Mr. Musk, who also identified himself as a "fan of Mr. Modi.".
"Mr. Modi really cares about India because he's pressuring us to make sizeable investments there, which is something we intend to do. We're just trying to determine the best moment," he told the press. "Tesla will be in India and will do so as soon as humanly possible, I am confident. ".
In an effort to break into the Indian market, Tesla has been in discussions with ministers and bureaucrats there.
Last month, Reuters reported that Tesla had suggested establishing a factory to create electric vehicles and was also considering producing EV batteries in the nation. Federal Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar had informed the agency in May that "they are very seriously looking at India as a production and innovation base.".
The Indian government insisted that Tesla produce cars locally, despite the carmaker's claims that it wanted to export to India first to gauge demand, and the company's initial plans to establish a base there were shelved last year.
Mr. Musk expressed his desire to expand the Starlink satellite internet service, run by his business SpaceX, to India.
He said to reporters after his meeting with Mr. Modi, "We do not want to jump the gun on an announcement, but I think it is quite likely that it will be a significant investment in our relationship with India.".
On Tuesday, Mr. Modi flew into New York for a three-day state visit that is viewed as a turning point in the bilateral relationship between India and the US.
Before engaging in direct discussions with President Joe Biden, he will receive a formal welcome at the White House on Thursday.
More than 70 US lawmakers wrote to Mr. Biden on Tuesday, urging him to bring up the subject of human rights with Mr. Modi while in India. They expressed concern over the country's escalating religious intolerance, press freedoms, and the persecution of civil society organizations.
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