By Daisy Atino
FREMONT, Calif. — Tech Billionaire Elon Musk was absent from a recent meeting with Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal when he visited the Tesla manufacturing plant at Fremont, California.
“Missed Mr. Elon Musk’s magnetic presence and I wish him a speedy recovery,” said Goyal in a post shared on social media.
“It was a honour to have you visit Tesla! My apologies for not being able to travel to California today, but I look forward to meeting at a future date,” said Musk in a tweet while responding to Goyal’s post
The CEO had complained of severe back pain in the recent months in connection with his intense work schedule. He revealed the need for a “minor surgery” to correct the problem in which his right shoulder blade rubbed up against his rib cage.
“Recovery will only take a few months,” he wrote at the time.
Sharing pictures of his visit on social media, Goyal also expressed enthusiasm about touring Tesla’s facility and emphasized the presence of Indian professionals.
“Visited Tesla’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Fremont, California. Extremely delighted to see talented Indian engineers and finance professionals working in Senior positions and contributing to Tesla’s remarkable journey to transform mobility,” Goyal wrote in a tweet.
“Also proud to see the growing importance of auto component suppliers from India in the Tesla EV supply chain. It is on its way to double its components imports from India,” he added.
Tesla and the Indian government are attempting to strike a win-win deal that could see the world’s most valuable carmaker set up a vehicle manufacturing plant in India as part of its entry into the country.
It would be the sixth Tesla factory after Musk disclosed plans in March to build his next gigafactory in Mexico for his upcoming entry EV touted to cost $25,000 when it goes on sale at an undisclosed date.
Musk had earlier said that Tesla was aiming to source components worth between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion from India this year, having bought $1 billion of components last year.