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Elon Musk in India: 48-hr packed visit includes PM Modi meeting, Starlink launch, and potential $3 billion investment

In addition to meeting PM Modi, Musk is anticipated to meet with top government officials and industry representatives.

• Updated Apr 12, 2024, 10:18 PM IST

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, confirmed his visit to India on April 21 and 22, during which he will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As per his planned itinerary, he is expected to make several significant announcements during the visit, such as the launch of the Starlink service and investment plans totaling $2 billion to $3 billion in the country.

During his visit, Musk is set to meet with other government officials, including Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal. The preparations for Musk's visit are ongoing, and the Prime Minister's Office is likely to send out invitations next week to potential attendees. Alongside government officials, some industry stakeholders may also be invited to meet with the Tesla CEO.

Musk and Modi previously met during the Indian prime minister's visit to the US in June last year. Since then, Musk has been advocating for a reduction in import duties on electric vehicles to enable Tesla to begin selling its EVs in India.

Last month, the Indian government yielded to the pressure, introducing a new EV policy that slashes import taxes on certain models from 100% to 15%, provided the manufacturer pledges to invest $500 million or more and establishes a factory in the country.

According to a Bloomberg report, Tamil Nadu might present itself as a potential manufacturing location for Tesla before Musk's visit to India. The report also stated that while Tesla has been considering establishing an EV plant in India, a final decision has not been made yet.

Elon Musk is expected to unveil plans to launch Starlink services in India, offering satellite-based broadband services, according to the report. It mentioned that regulatory approvals for Starlink are nearing completion, and the company is likely to obtain a license soon.

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Elon Musk postpones India visit, cites 'very heavy' Tesla obligations

Elon musk was scheduled to visit india on april 21 and 22 and meet prime minister narendra modi..

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• Elon Musk says he looks forward to visiting India later this year
• Was scheduled to visit India on April 21 and 22
• Musk was likely to announce an investment of $2-3 billion

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's two-day visit to India , where he was supposed to announce plans to enter the Indian market, has been postponed. Elon Musk was scheduled to visit India on April 21 and 22 and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a post on X, Elon Musk said his visit to India had to be delayed due to "very heavy Tesla obligations".

"Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year," the SpaceX CEO tweeted.

Musk has to reportedly attend a crucial conference call on April 23 in the United States to answer questions about Tesla's first quarter performance.

Last week, Musk posted on X that he was "looking forward" to meeting PM Modi.

Musk, who also owns SpaceX, was expected to announce an investment of $2-3 billion to build a factory for entry-level cars amid the long-awaited Tesla Inc's entry into the Indian market. Recently, the government announced a policy lowering high tariffs on imported cars if firms invest locally.

The billionaire entrepreneur was also expected to unveil plans to introduce Starlink, a satellite network that provides high-speed internet connection.

Musk, the world's fourth-richest man, was also expected to meet Indian space tech startups during his visit. The government had reportedly invited companies like Skyroot Aerospace, Dhruva Space, Piersight, and Digantara for talks with the SpaceX CEO in New Delhi.

PM Modi has met Elon Musk twice before -- during a Tesla plant visit in 2015 and during his state visit to the US in 2023. In a recent interview, PM Modi said Musk was a supporter of India.

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Elon Musk's trip to India: Starlink approvals, Tesla factories and more on agenda

Elon musk is set to visit india and meet with prime minister narendra modi, a meeting that will have the introduction of tesla and starlink in india on the agenda..

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is set to visit India as his businesses seek new markets in the world's most populous nation, with electric carmaker Tesla -- suffering a sales downturn in the United States -- reportedly scouting factory locations.

Another Musk-owned business, satellite internet operator Starlink, is set to receive initial approvals to operate in India, a government source told AFP.

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Also likely to be on the agenda for the self-described "free speech absolutist" is the large number of content takedown orders India's government imposes on X, the social media platform he took over in 2022.

"Looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India!" Musk wrote on X last week without giving a date for the visit.

Indian media reports suggest the trip will begin as soon as Sunday and last two days, coming after months of aggressive courtship between the billionaire and Modi.

The two met last June in New York, after which Musk said Modi had pushed the entrepreneur to "make significant investments in India" -- something he said his companies intended to do.

Tesla is currently battling increased Chinese competition and a demand slump in the United States, with reports claiming the company plans to slash its workforce.

Musk, who has described himself as a Modi fan, also said India "has more promise than any large country in the world".

But India often struggles to attract foreign direct investment, even as multinational companies seek alternatives to China, and Musk's admiration has not yet translated into multibillion-dollar commitments.

India's steep import taxes for electric vehicles -- Musk once complained that they were among the "highest in the world" -- have prevented Tesla from making inroads in the absence of local manufacturing.

And in 2021, the communications ministry delivered a rare public rebuke to Starlink when it claimed the company had started "preselling" its services in India without a license to operate.

- Red carpet -

This year though, the government has eased regulations in the hope of attracting greater foreign investment ahead of national elections that will last six weeks beginning Friday.

Last month it cut import taxes on electric vehicles for global automakers that committed to invest $500 million and start local production within three years.

The new policy allows companies to import up to 8,000 electric vehicles priced at $35,000 or higher every year with greatly reduced import duties of 15 percent.

The Financial Times reported earlier this month that Tesla would send a team to scout locations in at least three states for a factory.

Indian media has reported that Tesla will first look to import cars from its Berlin factory until it takes a final decision on where to set up a production line.

Experts say it's unlikely the Indian market will be an immediate shot-in-the-arm for the company, mostly due to the high price tag of its cars.

Tesla's cheapest model right now is the Model 3 sedan, which retails for around $39,000 in the United States.

"Cars that are priced more than ₹ 20 lakh ($23,900) have only a five percent market share in India," Soumen Mandal, senior analyst at market research firm Counterpoint, told AFP.

He added however that Tesla would be looking to position itself for an inflection point that saw greater demand as disposable incomes rise and electric vehicle production costs drop.

Counterpoint projects that the percentage of electric vehicles in all automotive sales will jump from two percent last year to nearly 30 percent by 2030.

- Posting battles -

Musk's present business interest in India is limited to the one he inherited -- the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

He is continuing a legal battle that predates his ownership to challenge takedown orders mandating the removal of tweets and accounts critical of Modi's government.

India, which has seen a precipitous decline in press freedoms since Modi took office a decade ago, petitions X for content removals more than almost any other country.

Former X boss Jack Dorsey last year claimed government officials threatened to shut down the platform in India unless it yielded to their demands -- a claim information technology minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said was an "outright lie".

Under its new owner, X is appealing a court verdict last year ordering the platform to abide by government takedown requests.

But Musk has been sanguine about the restrictions faced by the company in India.

"The rules in India for what can appear on social media are quite strict and we can't go beyond the laws," he told a BBC journalist last year.

“If we have a choice of either our people go to prison or we comply with the laws, we will comply with the laws.”

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Elon musk postpones india visit, citing tesla obligations.

Elon Musk has postponed his planned trip to India , citing “very heavy” obligations at Tesla.

The Tesla CEO was due to arrive in India next week for a visit that was expected to include a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and confirmation that Tesla will build a factory in the world’s most populous country.

“Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year,” Musk posted on X on Saturday.

Musk posted last week on X that he was “looking forward” to meeting Modi.

He was also planning to meet leaders of Indian space tech startups during his visit, including Pawan Chandana, co-founder of Skyroot Aerospace, which launched India’s first privately developed rocket in 2022. Apart from Tesla ( TSLA ), Musk is also the boss of rocket company SpaceX and X, formerly Twitter.

Currently the world’s fourth-richest man , Musk was expected to announce an investment of $2 billion to $3 billion in India, mainly for building the new Tesla factory, Reuters and the Financial Times reported, citing anonymous sources.

His trip was originally scheduled just days after India commenced the world’s largest democratic election. An estimated 960 million people in the country of 1.4 billion are eligible to vote in the poll, which started on Friday and will take more than a month to complete. Modi is widely expected to clinch a rare third consecutive five-year term as prime minister.

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Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Shivangi Acharya; Editing by Christian Schmollinger

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Aditya Kalra is the Company News Editor for Reuters in India, overseeing business coverage and reporting stories on some of the world's biggest companies. He joined Reuters in 2008 and has in recent years written stories on challenges and strategies of a wide array of companies -- from Amazon, Google and Walmart to Xiaomi, Starbucks and Reliance. He also extensively works on deeply-reported and investigative business stories.

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Elon Musk to visit India this week as fastest-growing economy seeks Tesla deal

Tesla has also worked on deal for factory in mexico that could open in 2024.

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Tesla founder and social media platform X CEO Elon Musk is to visit India this week as both sides eagerly pursue a deal to bring the electric car manufacturer to South Asia.

Musk and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met over the summer during Modi’s visit to the U.S., during which Musk revealed that he remains "confident that Tesla will be in India and will do so as soon as humanly possible."

Musk will meet with Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to go over potential details of Tesla’s entry into the Indian market , Reuters reported. Musk will look to build a Tesla factory in India, producing a $24,000 car that will source parts from across the country and look to establish charging infrastructure nationwide.

India started the year by not only overtaking the U.K. as the fifth-biggest economy in the world but beating Japan as the third-biggest vehicle market in the world, selling more than 4.25 million cars in 2022, according to The Times of India.

ELON MUSK SAYS TESLA AIMS TO MAKE 200,000 CYBERTRUCKS A YEAR

The pace of growth has positioned India as the most attractive and lucrative market for electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers to invest in new facilities. The Economic Times reported tech conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra earned a $9.8 billion valuation from Singapore’s global investment goliath Temasek due to overperforming in financial year 2023.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, meets with Elon Musk in New York on June 20, 2023. (Indian Press Information Bureau / Handout / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A deal between India and Tesla, which ranks as the largest EV manufacturer in the world with a market cap of $800 billion, according to Reuters.

ELON MUSK ANNOUNCES STARLINK INTERNET ACCESS FOR AID ORGANIZATIONS IN GAZA

Musk’s trip was not expected until next year, but moving the visit up to this year shows the eagerness with which both parties have looked to pursue a deal. After their meeting earlier this year, Musk said Modi has pushed Tesla to make a "significant" investment in India.

India is also looking at reducing tax rates on imported EVs by around 15%, a significant drop from the current 100% that exists now. Modi held meetings with "various ministries" over the week to try and expedite the adoption of the policy. 

TESLA CEO ELON MUSK REPORTEDLY SHEDS BILLIONS FROM NET WORTH

Tesla tried to push for a change in the tax rate in 2021 when it first tried to enter the Indian market, but talks collapsed over the government’s commitment to local manufacturing, Reuters reported. 

A Tesla sign is seen on the Shanghai Gigafactory in Shanghai, China, on Jan. 7, 2020. (Reuters / Aly Song / File / Reuters Photos)

The policy’s adoption would rely on minimal impact to local carmakers, who argue the lower tax rate would disrupt the market and hurt them.

The India investment represents the most ambitious step in Telsa’s plans for global expansion, following the plan to build a new plant in Mexico , which the governor of Mexican state Nuevo Leon said would be among the biggest plants for the EV manufacturer and would go up "in record time," the New York Times reported.

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The Mexico plant – the fifth foreign one Tesla would have built – would cost $5 billion and employ up to 7,000 people, with its first cars produced as early as next year.

FOX Business’s Joe Toppe contributed to this report.

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Days after deferring India visit, Tesla CEO Elon Musk lands in China

Elon musk has been looking to obtain approval to transfer data collected in china to train algorithms for its autonomous driving technologies..

TESLA CEO Elon Musk on Sunday arrived in China, barely a week after he cited Tesla-related “obligations” to defer his much-anticipated India visit to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and founders of an Indian space startup.

Amid a sharp decline in production of Tesla units and questions raised by its inventors, Musk is expected to discuss the rollout of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software and permission to transfer data overseas with Chinese government officials, news agency Reuters reported.

Musk has been looking to obtain approval to transfer data collected in China to train algorithms for its autonomous driving technologies. The company since 2021 has been storing all data collected by its Chinese fleet in Shanghai as required by Chinese regulators.

While New Delhi has only rolled out an electric vehicle policy (EV) last month, largely to accommodate the Texas-based carmaker, Tesla operates its biggest plant globally in Shanghai, producing over 1 million units of Model 3 and Model Y cars a year.

Chinese state media reported that Musk met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Sunday during which Li told Musk that Tesla’s development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation.

Tesla has sold more than 1.7 million cars in China since it entered the market a decade ago. Moreover, China is also crucial for Tesla as it supplies its cars to New Zealand, Australia and Europe.

Reuters reported that Musk’s visit coincides with the Beijing auto show, which opened last week and ends on May 4. Musk’s itinerary Sunday afternoon also included a meeting with Ren Hongbin, a government official who heads the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the organiser of the Beijing auto show, the Chinese state media reported.

Prior to Musk’s visit to India, policymakers had kickstarted the consultation process to release guidelines for the EV policy. Hours after Musk announced on April 20 that he is postponing his visit to India, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that India is making policies to ensure big companies are attracted to India for investment, especially in light of industries expressing concerns around China.

To attract investments into the EV space, the Centre has lowered import duties to 15 per cent from 100 per cent for models of electric cars with a combined cost, insurance, freight prices of $35,000 or above for five years, a key precondition for Tesla’s entry to test out the “market potential” in India.

Earlier, the Centre is learnt to have turned down China-based BYD’s proposal to build a $1-billion EV plant in partnership with Hyderabad -based Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd in June last year. The rejection of the proposal was in line with India’s broad policy to filter Chinese investments in crucial sectors in India.

A vibrant EV ecosystem is part of India’s policy push to help reduce extreme dependence on imported crude oil. India’s oil import dependency for FY24 climbed to 87.7% from 87.4% in FY23, according to official data. Cutting costly oil imports continues to be a key focus area for the government, and it also found a mention in the BJP manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

A similar strategy was seen in the case of mobile manufacturing where Apple and other global mobile phone manufacturers are receiving incentives under the Production Linked Incentive Scheme to begin making phones in India and help create a broader manufacturing base in the country.

The cancellation of UGC-NET has caused uncertainty and anxiety for students like Abishek Mishra, Sooraj Elamon, Ananya Mukherjee, and Mouli Saha who were hoping to secure teaching jobs, JRFs, and preparing for PhDs. This decision has also affected their mental health. Students like Shahid Ahmed are angry and frustrated with the cancellation.

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"Tesla Obligations Require...": Why Elon Musk Postponed Visit To India

Elon musk confirmed he has delayed his trip, but said he looks forward to visiting india later this year..

Tesla chief Elon Musk this morning said he has postponed his planned trip to India due to "very heavy Tesla obligations", a day before his visit was expected to begin. Musk, who owns Tesla and SpaceX, was to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his two-day visit and announce investment plans for his businesses.

The world's richest man confirmed on X he has delayed his trip, but said he looks forward to visiting India later this year.

Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2024

"Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year," said the tech entrepreneur.

Musk had said last week that he was "looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India", after which reports said he could arrive here on April 21.

He met the Prime Minister in the US last June and assured that Tesla will enter the Indian market "as soon as humanly possible".

He was expected to announce $2-3 billion investments in India, with his visit likely marking breakthroughs for Tesla and Starlink, a satellite internet operator he owns.

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Tesla, an electric carmaker, is reportedly looking for newer markets amid sales slowdown in the US and China. India is among potential markets for Tesla, especially after the government lowered taxes on imported cars of companies that invest locally.

Starlink too is set to receive initial approvals to operate in India, news agency AFP reported. Days earlier, the government notified changes to its foreign direct investment policy in the space sector to liberalise entry routes for offshore investors in Indian companies.

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Ahead of Elon Musk's India visit, a deep dive into the global space market

The founder of SpaceX, the world's biggest space launch company, is expected to meet India's budding spacetech entrepreneurs in Delhi. He's also likely to announce plans for his EV company Tesla in the country

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Part i: the demand, key applications of satellites in orbit, the satellite market and key players, demand implications: white spaces and the future, next-gen leo applications: space manufacturing, part ii: the supply, why others will struggle: economies of scale and the sweet spot.

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Elon musk defers india visit until after elections.

Elon Musk delays India visit until after elections, canceling meetings with PM Modi and startups. Uncertainty surrounds discussions on EV plant, Starlink service, and global mobile broadband.

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— elonmusk (@elonmusk)

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Why Elon Musk's India visit is a pivotal moment for India's tech ecosystem

Elon musk's visit coincides with the cusp of a boom in india's tech ecosystem, fuelled by data law reforms, telecom changes, and a push for domestic chip production.

Elon Musk is set to visit India and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in April

Tech mogul Elon Musk is set to visit India on April 21 and April 22, marking his first visit to the country at a time when the billionaire is looking to kickstart operations of his two companies, Tesla and satcom internet provider Starlink, in the subcontinent.

Musk, who is also the owner of microblogging platform X,  will be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit.

The development has generated a lot of excitement, especially surrounding the possibility of Musk announcing investments in the country. With general elections around the corner, any announcement in this regard may bolster Modi's business-friendly credentials as he looks to secure a rare third term.

Musk's visit to the country also comes at a time when India's technology and electronics ecosystem is at an inflection point, with the passage of the new data protection and telecom law, and the government approving several semiconductor investment proposals, in a bid to make the country self-reliant in this area.

Four reasons why Musk's visit to India is important

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Tesla in India soon?  In March, the Indian government unveiled a new electric vehicle (EV) policy, lowering import taxes, but with additional conditions. The high import taxes prevailing earlier was a thorn in the side for Musk, who views Tesla's entry into India "as a natural progression".

India reduced EV import duty from 100 percent to 15 percent, provided a manufacturer invests at least $500 million and sets up a unit in India.

With these developments in context, and with speculations rife about the US company's planned investments in the country, various state governments will be keenly looking to pitch to the billionaire about setting up shop in their respective states.

For instance, TRB Rajaa, Tamil Nadu's minister for industries, recently said that the state government will aggressively pitch itself as a manufacturing site for Tesla .  The state is already home to the manufacturing facilities of Nissan Motor Co, Renault SA, Hyundai Motor Co and BMW AG.

According to a report, Tesla has also signed a strategic deal with Tata Electronics to acquire semiconductor chips for its worldwide operations, indicating that Tesla will be interested in building a supply chain in India that goes beyond local revenue-generation.

Starlink soon to get greenlight?  Starlink has been seeking a piece of the Indian satcom market from 2022, ever since it planned to conduct trials for its services, but faced regulatory hurdle as it did not have permission.

Later in 2022 itself, it initiated the process of securing a global mobile personal communications by satellite services (GMPCS) licence, for offering its services.  However, due to various security-related reasons, its licence request has been in a limbo.

In December 2023, India cleared a major regulatory hurdle on satellite spectrum -- the segment of radio spectrum over which satcom signals are transmitted.

Through the Indian Telecommunication Act 2023 , which replaced the century-old Indian Telegraph Act, the government decided that the satcom spectrum, which is necessary for providing satcom internet services, will not be auctioned, and will be administratively allocated.

Now, with these regulatory hurdles smoothened, and with Musk arriving in the country on April 21 , Moneycontrol understands that the Department of Telecommunication has accelerated the process of allocating the licence to Starlink.

“Due diligence is in an advanced stage, and DoT is having inter-ministerial discussions because of a security issue," a senior government official told Moneycontrol . After DoT's approval, Starlink will also need permission from the home ministry, law enforcement and other security agencies.

X's appeal in Karnataka High Court:  In June 2022, the Ministry of  Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) served notices to X (then Twitter), accusing it of not complying with IT Rules 2021, for not enforcing its blocking orders in their entirety.

In these notices, MeitY had warned X that if it does not comply with these orders, the safe harbour provision that the platform enjoys under the IT Act can be revoked. The safe harbour provision protects platforms against liability from content posted by users.

A few months later, X sued the Indian government, saying that MeitY did not provide sufficient reasoning behind these blocking orders. This case went for nearly a year, and in June 30, 2023, the Karnataka HC dismissed  X's petition and imposed a Rs 50 lakh penalty on the platform.

While this was happening, X also saw a much-publicised takeover of the platform by Musk. In fact, in court hearings pertaining to the takeover, Musk had termed X's legal battle against the Indian government as a "risky litigation" that placed "the social media firm's third largest market at risk".

Thus when X, after the takeover by Musk, appealed against the decision of the Karnataka HC , it came as a surprise. It marked X's first confrontation with the Indian government since Musk took ownership of the platform.

When it comes to India specifically, Musk, who is known for being a free speech absolutist, has toed a cautious line, regarding the country's laws and regulations. Earlier, he had said that India’s social media rules were “quite strict” and violating them may result in X’s employees getting arrested. With this in context, Musk meeting Modi gains further significance.

Will SpaceX find its wings in India?  Over the last couple of years, the Indian space sector has opened up. The Indian Space policy was released in 2023, and recently, the government eased foreign direct investment (FDI) norms in the sector.

The policy boost has propelled several Indian space tech startups to go for their own launches. For instance, Hyderabad's Skyroot Aerospace launched a rocket in 2022 to become the first Indian private player to do so. Several other startups, such as Pixxel, Digantara, and Dhruva Space, have launched their satellites and payloads into space.

However, its not just startups which are eyeing a piece of the space tech market. It has been pegged to reach $916.85 billion by 2033.

Moneycontrol understands that major players, such as the  Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin,   which, like Musk's SpaceX, offers launch services, among other things, have been in touch with Indian authorities in this regard.

Moneycontrol had earlier reported how Blue Origin held multiple meetings with the Indian government and startups over the last two years, exploring manufacturing tie-ups.

With this in context, a possible entry of SpaceX, which is know for offering cheap launches, into the Indian market may not be as far-fetched as one may think.

If that happens, the rocket launch ecosystem in India, which is currently dominated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), again known for offering low-cost, yet highly effective launches, and startups like Skyroot or Agnikul, which have assured that their offerings too would be cheap, will transform to a highly competitive market.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk's India visit to last around 48 hours: What's his plan?

Elon musk's india visit: the tesla ceo will meet prime minister narendra modi and other government officials as well as industry representatives..

Elon Musk's India visit: Tesla CEO Elon Musk's India visit will last around 48 hours during during which the billionaire will make mega announcements. These will include plans to start Starlink services in India, CNBC-TV18 reported adding that Elon Musk will be in India on April 21 and 22. The Tesla CEO will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government officials as well as industry representatives.

Elon Musk's confirmation of India visit

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The report comes after Elon Musk confirmed his India visit on social media platform X as he wrote, “Looking forward to meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India.”

Earlier he had said on the social media site that "India should have electric cars like every other country has electric cars. It's a natural progression to provide Tesla electric vehicles in India".

What's Elon Musk's plan in India

The report claimed that Elon Musk will announce an investment plan of $2-3 billion for India. Tesla is looking to manufacture cars for India but export them to global markets as well, the report added.

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When elon musk and pm modi met in new york.

Elon Musk and PM Modi last met in New York in June. Tesla has asked India several times to lower import taxes on electric vehicles. Last month, Centre unveiled a new EV policy lowering import taxes to 15% from 100% on some models if a manufacturer invests at least $500 million and sets up a factory as well.

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Elon musk's starlink in india.

Elon Musk is likely to announce plans to start Starlink services in India which might provide satellite-based broadband services in the country, the report claimed adding that regulatory approvals for Starlink are in final stages and the company is likely to receive a licence soon.

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Looking forward to doing `exciting work` in India, says Elon Musk

A merican tech billionaire Elon Musk has said he is looking forward to his companies doing "exciting work" in India, as he congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his historic election victory.

PM Modi will be administered the oath of office on June 9, his third consecutive term as Prime Minister.

"Congratulations @narendramodi on your victory in the world`s largest democratic elections! Looking forward to my companies doing exciting work in India," Musk, 52, said in a post on X on Friday.

The congratulatory message came two months after the CEO of the electric carmaker Tesla and microblogging platform X in April postponed his proposed visit to India due to "very heavy Tesla obligations ".

Musk -- who was expected to be in India on April 21 and 22 and scheduled to meet Prime Minister Modi -- later wrote on X that he is looking forward to coming to India later this year.

In June last year, Musk met with Modi during the latter`s US visit and stated that he planned to visit India in 2024 while expressing confidence that Tesla would enter the Indian market soon.

His proposed visit had raised expectations that he would announce plans for electric car maker Tesla to set up shop in the country, along with his satcom venture Starlink .

It was also expected that Musk would announce plans for Tesla to set up its manufacturing unit in India and investments could be to the tune of billions of dollars and the way forward for selling Tesla electric cars in India at the earliest.

Not just electric cars, he is also eyeing the Indian market for his satellite internet business Starlink, for which regulatory approvals are awaited.

Musk had in the past sought import duty reduction in India for it to be able to sell Tesla cars in the country.

Musk`s plan to visit India in April came on the heels of the government announcing a new electric vehicle policy, under which import duty concessions will be given to companies setting up manufacturing units in the country with a minimum investment of USD 500 million, a move aimed at attracting major global players like Tesla.

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Billionaires Sunil Mittal and Mukesh Ambani take on Elon Musk in India’s internet space race

• Billionaires Sunil Mittal and Mukesh Ambani take on Elon Musk in India’s internet space race on x (opens in a new window)
• Billionaires Sunil Mittal and Mukesh Ambani take on Elon Musk in India’s internet space race on facebook (opens in a new window)
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• Billionaires Sunil Mittal and Mukesh Ambani take on Elon Musk in India’s internet space race on whatsapp (opens in a new window)

Chris Kay in Mumbai and Stephen Morris in San Francisco

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

India’s biggest telecom companies, led by rival billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal, are primed to launch satellite internet services as they challenge Elon Musk’s attempts to establish Starlink in the country.

Bharti Airtel ’s joint venture with Eutelsat OneWeb, the Anglo-French satellite communications group, could start operating as early as June and Ambani’s JioSpaceFiber expects to follow later this year, according to four people familiar with the matter.

Musk ’s SpaceX, the owner of Starlink, has been trying to enter the country for more than three years, but has not won regulatory approvals and was rebuked in 2021 by local authorities for signing up customers without having the proper licences.

During Narendra Modi’s visit to the US last year, Musk told the Indian prime minister that he was eager to bring Starlink to the country with the goal of servicing isolated regions that had little or no high-speed internet.

Mittal’s company has taken the early lead in India’s internet space race. Unlike its competitors, it has obtained all the necessary approvals and can immediately launch once the new government allocates satellite spectrum following the national elections that ended in early June. Modi is set to govern in a coalition alliance after his Bharatiya Janata party lost its outright majority.

“Once you do get connectivity, people tend not to change their providers,” said Santosh Tiwari, a Bengaluru-based partner at consultancy EY Parthenon, which estimates that satellite internet in India is a potential $1bn revenue market.

“The focus will be on business-to-business internet — that’s where most of the money will come from”, Tiwari said. “Retail internet across those areas, that rollout will possibly take more time.”

Bharti Airtel was in discussions to provide internet to India’s army and navy in remote areas without conventional broadband services, said one of the people close to the company, adding that it had “a leg up compared to the competition”.

Ambani’s Reliance Industries, which owns India’s largest telecoms network with just over half of the nation’s 924mn wireless and wired broadband subscribers, is still awaiting the nod from the nation’s space industry regulator, IN-SPACe.

The full rollout of JioSpaceFiber, Reliance’s joint venture with Luxembourg satellite network provider SES, may be outlined at the conglomerate’s annual meeting. The meeting is usually in August when Ambani was known to make major announcements, said one of the people.

The product will serve as a small business-to-business “niche” offering, with Jio’s main focus remaining on expanding broadband internet access across the country of 1.4bn, according to another.

However, even if Ambani and Mittal are able to secure approvals ahead of Musk, it is unlikely they will ever be able to rival Starlink’s network of more than 6,000 low-orbit satellites and SpaceX’s near-monopoly on reusable rockets, with more than 100 launches forecast this year.

Starlink was well established and “could start quickly” in India, said an industry executive, but “they don’t have gateways into the country, they are much further behind”.

India’s local media reported in April that the provider had received tentative approvals from the country’s telecom ministry ahead of Musk’s highly anticipated trip to New Delhi when he was expected to announce the establishment of a Tesla factory.

But Musk cancelled the visit at the last minute and travelled to neighbouring rival China . There have not been further updates on Starlink’s approvals or the Tesla factory since then.

Bharti Airtel, Reliance and SpaceX, along with India’s space regulator and the Department of Telecommunications, did not respond to requests for comment.

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Elon Musk's Boring Company reduced the natural beauty of Texas to 'gravel mines,' resident says

• Elon Musk moved The Boring Company to Texas in 2021, The Times of London said.
• A resident told the outlet it has turned Texas' "incredible vistas" into "gravel mines."
• She said she fears what will become of the area if steps are not taken to hold industries in check.

Elon Musk's construction company, The Boring Company, has turned Texas' "incredible vistas" into "gravel mines," a longtime resident told The Times of London .

"I could start crying just talking about it," Erin Flynn, a 62-year-old sixth-generation Texan who lives in Bastrop, told the outlet.

"It is beyond heartbreaking," she added.

The Times said Musk moved his tunnel-building venture to Bastrop, a rural town of about 12,000 people located 30 miles east of Austin, in 2021.

The Wall Street Journal reported in March 2023 that Musk planned to build his own town on thousands of acres of land in Central Texas, envisioning a "Texas utopia" along the Colorado River in Bastrop County. It cited deeds, land records, and people familiar with the project.

The project is bringing billions of dollars in investment and thousands of well-paying jobs to the region, The Times reported.

Related stories

But it's also threatening the area's generations-old rural way of life, with trucks operating nonstop, earth mounds scattered across the horizon, rock-sorting machines towering over the trees, and cranes moving to and from construction sites, the outlet said.

Flynn and her husband said their corner of Texas is being wrecked not only by Musk's firms — The Boring Company and SpaceX both have operations in Bastrop — but also by gravel and sand mines that were gradually erected to support the industry's operations there.

Flynn said she fears what will become of the area if steps are not taken to hold industries in check.

"There's a lot of freedom — people come to Texas for the freedom — but you have to respect your neighbor," she said, adding: "There is a fundamental lack of respect and a lack of communication. You're just being bullied."

The Boring Company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Last year, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said it had opened investigations into The Boring Company after receiving three complaints regarding the Bastrop site's handling of wastewater and concrete production.

Tesla, which has a 2,500-acre property on the outskirts of Austin, applied in February for an exemption from the city's "extraterritorial jurisdiction," which allows it to regulate developments outside city limits.

The city's planning department approved it in March, meaning Tesla's massive gigafactory would no longer have to follow local environmental regulations.

Watch: Musk visits border, calls for Trump-style wall

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Abortion United Evangelicals and Republicans. Now That Alliance Is Fraying.

The southern baptist convention, long a bellwether for american evangelicalism, voted to oppose the use of in vitro fertilization..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. And this is “The Daily.”

The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country, voted at its annual gathering last week to condemn IVF fertility treatments. Today, my colleague Ruth Graham on the story behind the vote the Republicans scrambled and prompted, and what it could eventually mean for the rest of the country.

It’s Monday, June 17.

So, Ruth, you write about religion for “The Times” and you were covering the big annual meeting of Southern baptists last week. And they made a pretty big decision. Tell us about it.

The Southern Baptist Convention, it’s the biggest Protestant denomination in the United States. They have almost 13 million members, more than 45,000 churches. It’s a huge group.

And Southern Baptists know their political power. And they are basically a barometer of evangelical sentiment in the US. You know, what they say kind of indicates what the typical evangelical cares about in any given moment. And fun for reporters, they all meet once a year in this giant gathering that any church can send delegates to. The delegates are called messengers.

So this year that meeting was in Indianapolis. There were almost 11,000 messengers there in the convention center. And one of the important political topics they took on this year was something they have never discussed as a full body before, and that’s the ethics of in-vitro fertilization.

OK. So this very important conference of Southern Baptists takes up IVF. In other words, the medical procedure that allows people to get pregnant through fertilization in a lab. So what do they say?

So a lot of Southern Baptists historically have not taken issue with IVF per se at all. They view it as a technology used to create life. You know, it’s used by families who desperately want to be parents, and they view that as a positive thing.

But the procedure does involve, typically, the production of more embryos than will be used by the couple that created them. And those embryos end up sometimes discarded, sometimes frozen indefinitely, sometimes donated, but not used in the way that they were originally created to be used. So some Southern Baptists do take issue with discarding those excess embryos. And the reason is they say life begins at conception.

This is sort of a core anti-abortion belief. The moment that the sperm meets the egg, that is the stuff of life. There’s a verse in Psalms, “You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

And you’ll hear that cited in Christian anti-abortion spaces a lot as evidence that God cares about and views as fully human human beings at the very moment of conception. And that would include these frozen embryos.

Right. If you truly believe that life begins at conception, you probably would not agree to abortion at any stage of gestation. And that same logic would apply to IVF. So when this issue gets raised at the conference, what happens? What are people saying?

So there’s a resolution that comes to the floor. Resolutions in Southern Baptist language are nonbinding. This would not be a ban. It’s just a statement of concern that’s meant to summarize Southern Baptist opinion on this particular topic.

So the language that’s proposed calls on Southern Baptists to reaffirm the value of human life. And then it narrows in on human life in an embryonic stage. And it urges them to just use reproductive technologies, fertility treatments that are consistent with that view of human life.

What does that mean?

They’re actually walking a pretty fine line here. They stopped short of saying that a Southern Baptist should never use IVF under any circumstances. They’re calling attention to these excess embryos and saying that, you know, Baptists really should only use reproductive technology with attention to life at this embryonic stage. And the resolution also goes so far as to ask Baptists to call on their governments to restrain these kind of technologies that violate the dignity of, as they put it, quote, “frozen embryonic human beings.”

Hm. So they’re also actually asking people to pressure their governments to respect this position, basically?

That’s right. It’s light on specifics, but that’s the suggestion.

But Ruth, why did they decide to raise this issue now? I mean, IVF obviously has been around for a long time,

Right. So back in February, there was a case that reached the Alabama Supreme Court that had started when a group of families in the state filed this wrongful death claim over a mistake at a fertility clinic where their frozen embryos were accidentally destroyed. They sue, and the state Supreme Court ends up ruling not only in their favor, but says really clearly that frozen embryos should be considered children. So the Chief Justice writes, “Even before birth, all human beings have the image of God and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing His glory.”

So really putting out this religious argument for human life in embryonic form. So that case lands like a bomb.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The stunning decision from Alabama’s Supreme Court has enormous and immediate consequences for fertility care.

And it really caught a lot of people off guard. You know, all along the spectrum.

A third fertility clinic in Alabama has shut down after the state Supreme Court ruled embryos are children.

The court offered no clear roadmap for what is and isn’t legal.

And it just places this question about the ethics and the legal aspects and all of this, it just puts IVF into the national conversation.

We’re concerned that with the new ruling, we may have to limit fertilization of eggs, which will limit success of treatment, limit efficiency, increase cost, and of course, risk to patients.

It’s a stressful process already. And I don’t need the added stress, and no woman does, of whether or not this might be moral to go through to have children when this is my only path.

And there’s this really strong backlash to the idea that embryos should be protected with the force of the law as full human beings. Because IVF is broadly popular, including among many Republican voters.

Alabama House of Representatives and the Senate have passed a law that restores access to in vitro fertilization. Doctors at clinics have told ABC News the new language will give them enough reassurance to resume IVF without facing legal risks.

Ultimately, the state legislature, the Republican governor work really quickly to reinstate it in the state. But it opens up this new conversation among conservative evangelicals who are broadly anti-abortion. And they’re starting to think should we think about this IVF conversation in the same way that we’ve thought about abortion? Should we be pushing on this more?

So most of the country takes the lesson from the Alabama case that IVF is not something to be interfered with. But for some in the evangelical community, they take the opposite lesson, it sounds like.

That’s right. For some evangelicals, this feels like the perfect moment to bring IVF into the abortion conversation and start to turn the tide against it. One of these people is an ethicist in Kentucky. His name is Andrew Walker. He works at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. It’s a major Southern Baptist seminary in Louisville.

And he’s been wanting to bring IVF into sort of the mainstream Southern Baptist consciousness for a while. He first started writing about it about five years ago. He actually published an essay in a sort of mainstream evangelical publication about it, got a lot of pushback, never felt it was the right moment to bring a resolution to the meeting, but he’s had this tucked in the back of his mind because he has this pretty clear conviction that IVF does not comport with Christian anti-abortion values.

So when the Alabama ruling happens, and the backlash, and the broader conversation, Andrew Walker thinks, you know, this is the moment. So he calls his friend and mentor, Dr. Al Mohler, who’s the president of the seminary where they both work. And he says, let’s do it.

Let’s start crafting a resolution for the meeting this year. And we’ll see if it gets forward. We’ll see if it gets discussed. We’ll see if it gets approved. But we’ve got to strike while the iron is hot here.

And did Baptists like Walker understand that a resolution like this would have potentially quite bad implications for mainstream Republican politicians? Like, wasn’t that the lesson of Alabama?

Yes. And I talked with both Dr. Walker and Dr. Mohler about this. And they both said they were completely aware of that. They didn’t love it, but they both felt that that was not their highest priority. That was not their highest responsibility.

And if anything, Dr. Mohler said this in particular, he wanted to nudge Republicans on the issue. He actually said he wanted to do more than nudge Republicans. He wanted to call them out. And so this would be a really high profile way to show to Republicans, look, we’ve got thousands of mainstream Southern Baptists in a room here who are all expressing collective alarm and opposition to IVF as it’s commonly practiced.

OK. So Baptist leaders nevertheless put this proposal to a vote on the floor. Tell us about how that went, when they put this proposal in front of thousands of other evangelicals.

It was really dramatic.

[CHRISTIAN CHORAL MUSIC]

We’re in this cavernous convention hall where, over the course of the last few days, there’s been singing of hymns. People have heard sermons. There’s been prayers. They’ve sent missionaries out. They’ve been sort of together in the work of making their convention what they want it to be.

Microphone 3A, would you give us your name, your church, and proceed with your discussion?

Yes. Daniel Taylor, messenger —

And then there’s this incredibly dramatic discussion and debate about the ethics of something so personal.

Thank you, Mr President. I rise to speak in favor of this amendment, out of both a heart for the unborn and for those stricken with infertility.

Anyone is allowed to come to the microphone under Southern Baptist rules. And you had two men come to the microphone to share really personal stories —

From my friends, the initial steps of IVF yielded six viable embryos. Four of the embryos were implanted and two were frozen for a time. Only one survived to term, their son and my godson. Because of him, I thank God for IVF.

One has a godson born via IVF.

I have a son because of IVF. I have another son 20 weeks old in my wife’s womb because of IVF.

The other has one child and his wife pregnant with a second via IVF.

I am for the sanctity of life and for the sanctity of embryos. I am against the idea that this technology is so wicked that it cannot be employed.

And both spoke about just loving these children and seeing the technology as a blessing from God.

I thank the authors of the resolution and the committee for the opportunity for the SBC to be a voice of biblical truth and clarity in this pressing cultural issue.

A woman came to the microphone, sort of on the other side.

In addition to my living children, I am the mother of four babies that I never got to hold. Two of those babies we adopted as embryos. Nothing in the process of IVF upholds the sanctity of life. There is no way to describe the treatment of embryos at any point in the IVF process as ethical or dignified.

To share that she had participated in embryo adoption, meaning that she had another family’s embryos implanted in her womb to try to bring those pregnancies to fruition. And in this case, she miscarried both times. But she had done that out of a sense of really moral obligation to these embryos as human life.

And it was quiet. I mean, people are really listening to these really personal stories and wrestling with them. This is personal for a lot of people in that room. But at the end of all this, it’s time to vote on the resolution.

So in the end, the language has been really carefully crafted to kind of bring Southern Baptists along on this argument. So it affirms that God loves all children, no matter the circumstances of their conception. It expresses empathy for couples trying to conceive. It says it’s a good and positive thing to want to have children, to expand your family.

And then it arrives at this point of saying that IVF, as it’s commonly practiced, is not an ethical option for Southern Baptists in most circumstances. So this resolution comes to a vote, to the thousands of people in that room. They’re all sitting in folding chairs. They raise their little orange ballots in favor or against. And the resolution passes overwhelmingly.

So this resolution ultimately passes. But how important is it really if it’s just an expression of sentiment, it’s not actually a directive to do something?

It’s hugely significant. This is the first major public statement that this group of influential evangelicals, frankly, influential Republican voters have made on this issue. And it really sets them up on a collision course with mainstream Republicans.

We’ll be right back.

So Ruth, you said that this vote really sets evangelicals on a collision course with mainstream Republicans. What did that look like?

So mainstream Republicans, in the wake of the Alabama ruling, have really circled the wagons to try to show that they are not only totally comfortable with IVF, but are going to go to great lengths to preserve it. And they see it as pro-family. They know that’s how most of their constituents view it. They want to really show that they see that as totally separate from the conversation about abortion and that they are going to be the ones to preserve access to IVF. And so on the very same day this happened in Indianapolis, in Washington —

I want to yield to the senator from Alabama, Senator Britt.

Thank you so much.

— Senator Katie Britt of Alabama, she’s an evangelical Christian, she gets up on the floor of the Senate and gives this impassioned speech supporting IVF.

I was proud to join my colleague from Texas in introducing The IVF Protection Act. I am —

She, with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, has put forward this bill that they say is intended to protect IVF access by blocking Medicaid funding to states that ban it outright. Democrats say that actually would not have done anything to fix the problem. And there are these kind of jockeying bills. But still, she gets up on the Senate floor —

Look, as a mom, I know firsthand that there’s no greater joy in this life than that of being a mother. IVF helps aspiring parents —

— and speaks, as a mom, as she puts it, in defense of IVF.

IVF access is fundamentally pro-family.

She’s wearing this really prominent cross necklace. And she talks about how supporting IVF is pro-family, that that’s the pro-family point of view.

We all have loved ones, whether they’re family members or friends, who have become parents or grandparents through IVF.

And she puts out a statement the same day, with Senator Cruz, and it’s signed by all of her Republican colleagues, including Josh Hawley, Marsha Blackburn, every conservative across the spectrum in the Senate signs on to this support for IVF.

So even the most conservative Republicans in Congress are coming out with this position that’s really at odds with evangelicals.

That’s right. IVF is hugely popular. Fertility treatments are widely used, including by evangelicals. Most people don’t even think negatively about this stuff, let alone want to ban it. So it’s a real dilemma for Republicans to watch evangelicals potentially turn in this direction.

So there’s pressure from the Southern Baptist Convention on mainstream Republicans, which I have to imagine is making Democrats pretty happy. I mean, I saw President Biden out there with a fundraising email the day that the Southern Baptists voted.

That’s right. I mean, Democrats are really leaning into reproductive rights right now. They’re putting abortion measures on ballots in November. They know that’s going to attract their voters. It’s going to attract independents.

They’re pointing out these restrictions. They’re talking about this stuff. And the vote last week from the Southern Baptists is another suggestion that there’s this movement out there that doesn’t just want to regulate at 15 weeks, not just at 12 weeks, not just at 6 weeks, but, you know, all the way down to the embryo in the lab. So I think Democrats see an opportunity here to exploit this growing divide between evangelicals and Republicans, at least on this issue.

And this is all going to be all the more salient ahead of a very important presidential election. I mean, we’re really hurtling down the tracks toward a big decision point for people.

Yeah, that’s exactly right. The Republican Party and American evangelicals have been in lockstep really since the 1970s. And now for Republicans, there’s this question about whether or not it’s still politically advantageous for them to follow where the anti-abortion movement is going on this stuff, because they’re pushing into places that are really deeply unpopular among the American population overall.

And the anti-abortion movement itself at this point is pretty divided on where it’s going to go next. So we saw the Supreme Court last week on Thursday, they maintained access to the abortion pill. There were divisions even within the anti-abortion movement over whether or not to bring that case forward. Some within that movement were skeptical of it. So you’re seeing sort of confusion and disagreement even internally on where to go after the overturning of “Roe v. Wade.”

Ruth, what about the broader population of evangelical Christians? There were 10,000 people at the Southern Baptist Conference voting on this. But what about everybody else? Where are they on this?

I think that’s still a really open question at this point. I talked to this young pastor from Georgia at the meeting, who was saying, you know, I don’t want to go back to the people in my church and tell them that the creation of their children and grandchildren comes from these immoral means. And the language of the resolution was careful around that, but it’s still going to be really hard to get that across and to just translate it for the people in the pews. And if you’re an ordinary Southern Baptist kind of reading the headlines and even reading the text of this, it’s a tough one.

At the same time, talking with Andrew Walker about this, who co-wrote the resolution, he acknowledged that a lot of Southern Baptists have not really thought about this stuff in terms of ethics and morality and connected it to the abortion question. But when he has one-on-one conversations with people about the topic and sort of walks them through, basically, the logic of the resolution, he said almost everyone comes away from those conversations with, at the very least, a sort of skepticism and a level of critical thinking around fertility treatments that they didn’t come in with. And that suggests that there’s at least sort of an openness to thinking differently about fertility treatments.

And the reason all this matters is obviously evangelicals are this hugely influential voting bloc. They’re used to having the power to turn their theological beliefs into policy. And when they come together, you get this political force, the same political force that worked for decades over a lot of obstacles and was eventually successful in overturning “Roe v. Wade.”

Now, IVF is different than abortion. IVF is extremely popular, including, at this point, among evangelical Christians. But if we find out that evangelicals are persuadable on IVF, it doesn’t just have implications for their personal spiritual lives. If this is the beginning of a moral awakening on IVF, and that’s a big if, it would have real implications for the rest of the country.

Ruth, thank you.

Here’s what else you need to know today. On Friday, the Supreme Court struck down a ban on bump stocks which enable semiautomatic rifles to fire at speeds rivaling those of machine guns. The decision, by a vote of 6 to 3, split along ideological lines, had the effect of erasing one of the government’s rare firearm regulations that came from a mass shooting. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had exceeded its power when it prohibited the device by issuing a rule that classified bump stocks as machine guns. And —

[CROWD CHANTING]

— tens of thousands of demonstrators crowded onto streets in France on Saturday to denounce the rise of the country’s far right as the nation prepared to vote in snap elections set to take place later this month. French president Emmanuel Macron shocked the country last week by announcing that he was dissolving the lower house of Parliament after his party was clobbered by far right opponents in a vote to seat the next European Parliament. Critics, including some in Macron’s own party, warned that the president’s move to call snap elections opened the door to empowering the far right in France for the first time since World War II.

Today’s episode was produced by Rob Szypko, Sydney Harper, Stella Tan, Aastha Chaturvedi, and Rachelle Bonja. It was edited by Marc Georges and Lisa Chow, contains original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano, and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. See you tomorrow.

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Hosted by Sabrina Tavernise

Featuring Ruth Graham

Produced by Rob Szypko ,  Sydney Harper ,  Stella Tan ,  Asthaa Chaturvedi and Rachelle Bonja

Edited by Marc Georges and Lisa Chow

Original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano

Engineered by Alyssa Moxley

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The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest denomination of Protestant Christians in the United States, voted at an annual gathering last week to oppose the use of in vitro fertilization.

Ruth Graham, who covers religion, faith and values for The New York Times, discusses the story behind the vote, the Republican scramble it prompted and what it could eventually mean for the rest of the country.

On today’s episode

Ruth Graham , who covers religion, faith and values for The New York Times.

Background reading

How baptists and the Republican Party took different paths on I.V.F.

Here’s what to know about the vote .

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson, Nina Lassam and Nick Pitman.

Ruth Graham is a national reporter, based in Dallas, covering religion, faith and values for The Times. More about Ruth Graham

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