{"text":[[{"start":7.13,"text":"Elon Musk, who has struggled to make deep inroads into India for his various businesses, appears to be trying once again. "}],[{"start":16.12,"text":"The world’s most populous country has often seemed like a mirage of a potentially massive market to many a businessman from around the world. Cracking the market is not easy but Musk appears to have not given up."}],[{"start":31.270000000000003,"text":"The New York Times reported Musk was on a recent call between US President Donald Trump and Indian leader Narendra Modi that discussed the conflict in Iran. While neither Musk nor the White House denied the report, India issued a pithy statement claiming that they had “seen the story” and the conversation was between Modi and Trump only. "}],[{"start":54.050000000000004,"text":"The world’s richest man last met Modi when the Indian prime minister visited Washington in early 2025. But discussions then have not eased Musk’s many challenges in the country. "}],[{"start":67.09,"text":"Let’s start with Tesla, which makes up the lion’s share of Musk’s immense fortune. The company sold just 29 cars in February in India. The country is not a massive EV market but even by its small numbers, Tesla’s share was 0.2 per cent of the 13,733 EVs Indians bought that month."}],[{"start":90.68,"text":"The month was bad, but not unique. Tesla had opened the first of its three showrooms in India in July 2025, and had managed to sell just 225 cars by the end of the year. That’s 0.13 per cent of the total EVs sold in India in 2025. "}],[{"start":111.03,"text":"Part of the reason is cost. Tesla’s Model Y starts at around $65,000, against an entry-level EV by Tata Motors at $8,500. This is partly because the US company imports completed vehicles that attract a 110 per cent duty for cars costlier than $40,000, compared with 15 per cent starting for cars assembled domestically using imported parts. "}],[{"start":140.31,"text":"That is one area where Musk has sought change. And ahead of India’s general elections in the summer of 2024, Musk was supposed to share a stage with Modi as he considered setting up a factory in the country, and the government was willing to roll out the red carpet with some policy concessions. Musk skipped and went to China instead, a last-minute betrayal that surely must have angered Modi. New Delhi has refused policy relaxations for Tesla since. "}],[{"start":170.01,"text":"Deepak Maheshwari of the New Delhi-based Centre for Social and Economic Progress explains that most multinationals, when they enter India, have their heads visit the country and meet the domestic powers that be as a sign of commitment."}],[{"start":188.19,"text":"Musk is yet to make the visit and has failed to find answers for the two main challenges any foreign business faces while coming to India — navigating a conservative and protectionist regulatory system, and standing up to entrenched players. "}],[{"start":204.82999999999998,"text":"Musk’s Starlink has come up against both. Near the end of 2024, the duopoly of India’s two telecom giants — Jio, owned by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, and billionaire Sunil Mittal’s Airtel — lobbied the government against allocating satellite spectrum to Starlink. "}],[{"start":227.82,"text":"But in a dramatic shift, both had signed independent agreements to offer Starlink’s services to their customers by March 2025. The company received its initial licence to operate in India in June, as New Delhi was courting the new Trump administration. Bilateral ties soon started to wobble though after Trump pressured New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil. While the two countries reached a truce this February, Starlink is yet to clear a few pending regulatory hurdles. "}],[{"start":260.32,"text":"Regardless, analysts feel Starlink will struggle to find a base beyond a small niche, even if it slashes its monthly entry price of $35 in other markets. Current telecom players offer broadband internet for cheaper, as little as $10 a month. "}],[{"start":277.35,"text":"That leaves social media platform X, the only Musk business that has a significant presence in India. It had built most of its 23mn user base in India, according to the World Population Review, before Musk bought it in 2022, when it was Twitter. "}],[{"start":294.38,"text":"Musk has struggled in several countries to make the platform profitable, but in India it is also fighting an almost existential court battle against the Modi government’s “unrestrained censorship of information”. The government wants tighter controls on speech."}],[{"start":313.65999999999997,"text":"Musk’s executives keep looking for entry points though. On April 1, Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, which owns X Corp and Starlink, met India’s communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in New Delhi. But more diplomacy might be needed by Musk."}],[{"start":341.29999999999995,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1775718388_2370.mp3"}