Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk said he wants to enter the Indian market with Starlink during a podcast with Indian entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath posted on Sunday, adding that the US has benefited immensely from the immigration of Indian talent.
“Hopefully India. So we’d love to be operating in India. That would be great,” Musk said during a long-form interview with Kamath. The conversation, uploaded as a podcast on Sunday, saw Kamath steer much of the discussion towards India, from rural internet access and urbanisation patterns to Indian talent in the US and Musk’s message for young Indian entrepreneurs.
Kamath asked Musk whether India would follow China-style urbanisation, with more people moving in from rural areas to urban ones, or evolve differently as technology progresses. Musk replied cautiously, even reflecting the question back to Kamath, saying, “Isn’t that the trend or is it not the trend in India?”
When Kamath noted that Covid altered some urbanisation patterns, Musk discussed how AI and robotics will change the relationship between work and cities.
“I think in the future it won’t be the case that you have to be in a city for a job,” he said. He went further, predicting, “My prediction is in the future working will be optional… in less than 20 years working will be optional.”
He said advances in technology could mean a world where “people don’t have to work at all… maybe only I don’t know 10… less than 20 years,” pointing to a future where work becomes more “like a hobby”.
The conversation also turned to the long-running movement of Indian professionals to the United States. Kamath described how Indians back home call it “the brain drain,” prompting Musk to praise the contribution of Indians to the US.
“America has benefited immensely from talented Indians that have come to America,” he said, “America’s been an immense beneficiary of talent from India.”
Musk drew a contrast between the views of the Biden and Trump administrations: “Under the Biden administration, it was basically a total free-for-all with like no border controls, which you know, unless you’ve got border controls, you’re not a country.”
He acknowledged the complexities around immigration policy and the H-1B visa program, noting concerns about misuse, stating, “It would be accurate to say that… some of the outsourcing companies have kind of gamed the system.”
But he made clear he opposes shutting the programme down: “I’m certainly not in the school of thought that we should shut down the H1B program… that would actually be very bad.”
Musk explained that Starlink’s technology is designed to complement existing telecom infrastructure, especially in countries with large rural populations. He said the system is inherently suited for places where ground networks struggle.
“It basically tends to serve the least served, which I think is good,” he said, noting that satellite beams have physical limitations in dense metros. He added that Starlink works best where internet access is “much worse”, areas where people often have “sometimes no access to internet or it’s extremely expensive or the quality is not very good”.
He emphasised the constraints of providing satellite internet in crowded cities, explaining, “It’s unfortunately so the physics don’t allow for that… we can’t beat something that’s 1 kilometre away, which the cell tower… physics is not on our side here… So it’s not physically possible for us, for Starlink to serve densely populated cities”
Musk said Starlink’s strengths lie in improving access in underserved regions. He pointed to scenarios where ground infrastructure gets damaged during disasters, adding that the satellite network continued functioning even when “the Red Sea cables were cut”.
As Kamath noted the podcast’s largely Indian audience of aspiring entrepreneurs, Musk expanded on learning and education, themes he tied to a future shaped heavily by AI-driven change.
He said technological progress meant “we’re going to be in like a post-work society,” though people could still study areas that interest them, such as the sciences or arts. He described AI and robotics as “a supersonic tsunami,” adding it would be “the most radical change that we’ve ever seen.”
On whether young Indians should still go to college, he said one reason is social exposure: “To be around people your own age in a learning environment.” He added that if someone chooses to go, they should “try to learn as much as possible across a wide range of subjects.”
As Kamath asked Musk what he would tell young Indian builders and founders, the Tesla founder responded with a message focused on value creation: “Aim to make more than you take. Be a net contributor to society.”
He insisted that financial success follows usefulness rather than the reverse: “If you want to create something valuable financially… it’s best to actually pursue providing useful products and services… money will come as a natural consequence.”
He added that anyone who tries to “make more than they take” has his respect.
www.hindustantimes.com
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