Elon Musk says Tesla is coming to India “as soon as humanly possible”.
The 51-year-old billionaire is keen to bring his electric supercars to the country after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his state visit to the United States.
He added that he was "trying to figure out the right timing" to create a production base in the Asian nation, which boasts a population of more than 1.4 billion.
Elon - who also owns and operates the social networking site Twitter - also declared himself to be a “fan of Mr Modi” - who has been criticised for his authoritarian politics - after the former CEO of the site Jack Dorsey slammed the politician for allegedly censoring the microblogging site during his time.
He added: "We will do our best to provide the freest speech that is possible under the law.”
Elon told a press conference: "He [Mr Modi] really cares about India because he's pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something we intend to do. We are just trying to figure out the right timing.’
Last month, it was reported by Reuters that Tesla was “very seriously” considering manufacturing in India.
Federal minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said: "They are very seriously looking at India as a production and innovation base.”
Tesla’s plans to open a headquarters in the country were put on pause, but it announced its intentions to bring its internet division, Starlink, to the region.
Elon said: "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.”
