Bruce Einhorn And Ragini Saxena Bloomberg

Days after Tesla Inc.'s largest-ever round of layoffs and hours before its quarterly earnings, Elon Musk will fly to India to squeeze in a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Since the 1970s the island of Sriharikota has served as the country's Cape Canaveral, with the national space agency launching scores of spacecraft headed as far as the moon and Mars. But in November a new tenant appeared.

India is muscling in on the increasingly lucrative business of space, taking advantage of the geopolitical isolation of China and Russia to pitch itself as a reliable alternative to SpaceX.

Elon Musk all but confirmed Tesla Inc. will enter India last week, sparking jubilation among fans, some of whom have had electric cars on order for years. But it may prove the company's hardest market to crack yet.

Days after Tesla Inc.'s largest-ever round of layoffs and hours before its quarterly earnings, Elon Musk will fly to India to squeeze in a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Since the 1970s the island of Sriharikota has served as the country's Cape Canaveral, with the national space agency launching scores of spacecraft headed as far as the moon and Mars. But in November a new tenant appeared.

India is muscling in on the increasingly lucrative business of space, taking advantage of the geopolitical isolation of China and Russia to pitch itself as a reliable alternative to SpaceX.

Elon Musk all but confirmed Tesla Inc. will enter India last week, sparking jubilation among fans, some of whom have had electric cars on order for years. But it may prove the company's hardest market to crack yet.