· Government action
Modi meets Musk in Washington during US visit as Starlink awaits Indian licence
What he said or did
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Musk in Washington before his talks with President Trump; India's foreign ministry said they discussed strengthening collaboration in areas including innovation and space exploration. Musk was then leading DOGE, while Starlink's Indian licence application was still pending (AP).
Background
Reuters reported before the visit that the talks might cover Starlink's long-delayed Indian launch, while trade and tariffs dominated the Modi–Trump agenda. India had sided with Musk's position that satellite spectrum be assigned rather than auctioned.
Official response
Asked whether Musk met Modi as a private citizen or a government official, Trump said I don't know,
adding I assume he wants to do business in India,
and said Musk would not be allowed to do anything involving a conflict of interest (Fortune).
What happened next
Starlink received a GMPCS satellite communications licence from India's Department of Telecommunications in June 2025 (Business Standard) and approval to launch commercial operations in July, after accepting data localisation rules (Rest of World).
Sources
- Associated Press (via WSLS)14 Feb 2025
- Fortune14 Feb 2025
- Reuters (via WDEZ)12 Feb 2025
- Business Standard6 Jun 2025
- Rest of World3 Dec 2025
This entry records what was publicly said or done, as reported by the sources above. Quotes are attributed to the person who made them.
