Elon Musk postpones his visit to India as Tesla and SpaceX eye an enormous market

“Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla commitments require a postponement of the visit to India, but I am very much looking forward to a visit later this year,” the billionaire said in a post on X. His visit was scheduled for 2 days – April 21 and 22 – until announce plans to open up the Indian market.

The decision to postpone comes after a busy week at Tesla. Early Sunday, Musk announced in a memo to the corporate’s greater than 140,000 employees that he would cut back the variety of employees worldwide by greater than 10%. Two top managers also left.

On Wednesday, the corporate said it could ask shareholders to vote again on a $56 billion compensation package for Musk that was voided by a Delaware court in January. And on Friday, Tesla recalled nearly 3,900 Cybertruck pickups and cut the worth of most of its cars by $2,000 within the U.S. as sales fell and inventories rose.

The company can even report first-quarter results on April 23, after already reporting vehicle deliveries missed estimates with a giant gap. The stock has fallen greater than 40% this 12 months, reducing the automaker’s market value to lower than $470 billion.

Musk’s planned visit to India was crucial when it comes to timing for each him and Modi. India has began voting for its national elections, during which Modi is looking for a 3rd term in office, citing the country’s economic rise. Investments from billionaires like Musk would increase his appeal amongst voters.

Musk is looking for approval to operate SpaceX’s Starlink in by far its largest market. According to Bloomberg, Starlink has already received assurances from the Indian government that the corporate can begin operations within the country as early because the third quarter of this 12 months earlier.

Tesla has also been attempting to enter India for years, but high import tariffs have had a deterrent effect – as Musk has repeatedly identified. India last month cut import taxes on electric vehicles from foreign automakers that commit to investing at the least 41.5 billion rupees ($497 million) and starting producing electric vehicles at a neighborhood factory inside three years.

A major investment from Tesla would allow Musk to tap the growing electric vehicle market in India and address slowing demand for electric vehicles elsewhere. However, Tesla watchers would really like to see motion on the bottom after seeing delays in previously announced projects similar to the development of an enormous factory in Mexico.