Why Did Elon Musk Need to Appear on an Indian Podcast?

India woke up this week to something unusual on its YouTube feed.

Not a new reel, not a finance meme, but the world’s richest man sitting across an Indian podcaster and talking about everything from AI and wealth to India’s future. Elon Musk, the face of Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink and more, chose to spend a couple of hours on Nikhil Kamath’s show.

For a country used to seeing Musk only through Western media, this felt surreal. For Nikhil Kamath, the host, it looked like a massive win. But if you look closer, the bigger winner might actually be Elon Musk himself.

Because the question is not “How did an Indian podcaster land Elon Musk?” The real question is “Why did Elon Musk need India at this moment, badly enough to show up on one of its biggest digital stage?”

Why an Indian Podcast, and Why Now?

Elon Musk’s media playbook has always been American. Joe Rogan. Lex Fridman. TED. Twitter Spaces. Big platforms, big Western audiences, big cultural impact. So why cross over to an Indian show now?

Three broad reasons line up.

1. India is no longer a “future” market. It is the market.
   India is now the world’s most populous country, with around 1.4 billion people, roughly 18% of humanity. This is not just about headcount. It is about purchasing power and aspiration.
2. India is quietly minting wealthy households.
   According to the Mercedes Benz Hurun India Wealth Report 2025, the number of “dollar millionaire” households in India, with net worth above ₹8.5 crore, has almost doubled in four years, from 4.58 lakh in 2021 to 8.71 lakh in 2025, which means India has added roughly one millionaire household every 30 minutes. Now, that is a lot of potential Tesla buyers, premium EV customers and Starlink enterprise clients.
3. Musk now has a gigantic pay package to justify.
   In November 2025, Tesla shareholders approved a new performance based compensation plan for Musk that could be worth as much as 1 trillion dollars in stock over the next decade if he hits demanding growth and valuation milestones.That kind of package only makes sense if Tesla grows far beyond its existing markets. India becomes central to that story.

If you put these three together, an Indian podcast does not look like a casual PR stop. It looks more like targeted brand building.

India: The EV Market Musk Cannot Ignore

The EV story in India has moved from “nascent” to “accelerating”.

• EV sales in India reached about 1.97 million units in FY25, up nearly 17% from the previous year.
• Electric passenger vehicles alone crossed the 100,000 unit mark, growing about 18% YoY.

At the front of that race are home grown brands. Tata Motors alone is selling several thousand EVs a month, with around 7,000 plus electric cars in October 2025 and an estimated 40% market share of the passenger EV market that month. Mahindra, JSW MG and others are ramping up aggressively too.

Now place Tesla in that picture.

Tesla formally entered India in 2025. It has opened experience centres in Mumbai and Delhi and is building out charging infrastructure, with four charging locations and a growing supercharger network. As of late November, it had delivered just over 150 units since starting sales.

That is not a market position. That is a pilot project.

Forget competing with Tata Motors and MG, it would take years for Tesla to even beat the likes of Kia or BMW or BYD who are selling upto 5000 units and are growing in triple digits YoY.

Which is exactly why Musk cannot afford to treat India as “optional”. If domestic companies are shaping Indian consumer expectations on EVs now, Tesla has to build its narrative fast or risk becoming a niche luxury badge in a market that could define global auto demand in the next decade.

An Indian podcast that reaches millions of young investors, entrepreneurs and aspirational professionals is a direct shortcut into that conversation.

Starlink: The Other Big India Story

Tesla is only half of Musk’s India equation.

The other half is Starlink.

In 2025, Starlink finally cleared years of regulatory hurdles and received the licenses and final approvals it needed to launch satellite internet services in India, joining OneWeb and Jio as one of the key satcom players. The company is now working through spectrum allocation and infrastructure buildout, with India positioning satellite broadband as a way to connect remote and rural regions.

For Starlink, India is perhaps the most important satellite internet market in the world for three reasons:

• Hundreds of millions still lack reliable high-speed broadband.
• India’s geography makes fibre rollout extremely expensive.
• Enterprise, remote region and government connectivity needs are exploding.

To make that work at scale, Starlink needs not just regulatory clearance but public trust and brand pull. Appearing on a popular Indian podcast, talking admiringly about Indian talent and the country’s potential, is a soft way to say: “I am on your side. My companies want to build with you, not just sell to you.”

China Was Tesla’s Growth Engine. But China Is Changing

Then comes the other side of the story: pressure from China.

China is the world’s largest EV market and Tesla’s second largest. In 2023, Tesla sold more than 600,000 vehicles in China. But the competitive landscape has shifted brutally.

• Chinese EV makers now account for roughly 58% of global EV production.
• BYD has matched Tesla in global EV volumes and is the market leader in China. BYD has also become India's top 5 EV maker, while Tesla is nowhere near that.
• Xiaomi’s SU7 is a direct Tesla rival, cheaper and loaded with features

As competition heats up there, relying only on China, the US and Europe to deliver years of growth becomes risky. A fast growing, still underpenetrated market like India is the obvious fourth pillar.

So when Musk sits across an Indian host and paints a grand vision of AI, work and the future of humanity, he is not just entertaining listeners. He is introducing the brand “Elon Musk” to a country he needs as a customer, regulator, partner and talent pool.

The $1 Trillion Incentive

The timing matters.

Tesla is currently a 1.48 trillion dollar company, and on top of that, shareholders have just approved a pay package that could theoretically hand Musk up to 1 trillion dollars worth of Tesla stock over a decade, if he hits aggressive performance and value creation targets.

Packages like this do not get earned by just keeping the status quo. They require:

• New products and revenue streams like robotaxis, AI and energy.
• Expansion into large new markets where EV penetration is still low and infrastructure is still forming.
• Deep brand acceptance in countries that will define global growth over the next 10 to 20 years.

India ticks every one of those boxes.

So Why Did Musk Need This Podcast?

Put it all together and the answer looks something like this:

• He needs India’s consumers. A rapidly growing base of affluent and upper middle class households, plus a booming EV market, gives Tesla huge long term upside if it can crack pricing, policy and perception.
• He needs India’s regulators. For both Tesla and Starlink, smooth relations with New Delhi decide import duties, factory plans, satellite spectrum and data rules. Appearing on a platform loved by Indian entrepreneurs and professionals is a very subtle way to signal alignment with India’s ambitions.
• He needs India’s talent. Musk repeatedly talks about how the US has benefited from Indian engineers and founders, and he wants that flow to continue into his companies.
• And he needs to justify a pay package that assumes Tesla and his ecosystem will become far bigger than they are today.

So yes, the episode is a big career moment for Nikhil Kamath. But it may be an even bigger strategic moment for Elon Musk.

It is less “why did an Indian podcast get Elon Musk” and more “why Elon Musk could no longer afford to ignore India, its audience and its story.”

Disclaimer:

The content is meant for education and general information purposes only. Investments in the securities market are subject to market risks, read all the related documents carefully before investing. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. The securities quoted are exemplary and are not a recommendation. This in no way is to be construed as financial advice or a recommendation to invest in any specific stock or financial instrument. Readers are encouraged to verify the exact numbers and financial data from official sources such as company filings, earnings reports, and financial news platforms and to conduct their own research, and consult with a registered financial advisor before making any investment decisions. All disputes in relation to the content would not have access to an exchange investor redressal forum or arbitration mechanism. INDmoney Global (IFSC) Private Limited,Registered office address: Office No. 507, 5th Floor, Pragya II, Block 15-C1, Zone-1, Road No. 11, Processing Area, GIFT SEZ, GIFT City, Gandhinagar – 382355.