Elon Musk’s involvement in US politics is drawing attention in faraway India.
Several Indian business leaders have commented on Elon Musk’s closeness to US President Donald Trump and his administration. While some have shared misgivings about a business leader being so deeply involved in US politics, others have said that Musk’s political moves shouldn’t be cause for concern.
The discussion was set off by Sanjeev Bikhchandani, the founder of Info Edge which was an early investor in Zomato, and runs portals like Jeevansaathi, Naukri.com and 99Acres. “Almost three hundred years ago India and Indians witnessed and experienced the negative impact of a private company taking over a country, a people and a government,” he wrote on X. “The US is going through shades of that now given the influence that Elon Musk is wielding in and over the US administration. This will not have a good outcome. The US is headed to a dystopian future,” he added.
“My point is simple – you are either in government or you are CEO of your companies. You cannot be doing both at the same time. He cannot be meeting visiting Prime Ministers as a private company CEO advocating his interests on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and be in government heading DOGE on Tuesday and Thursday. Pick one,” he added.
“Such a thing would never happen in India. You would never have the founder promoter and CEO of a listed company be a Cabinet Minister three days a week and be discharging his or her duties in the company two days a week. In this aspect India seems to be better governed than the USA. You are either running a private company or you are running the government. You cannot be running both,” he continued.
But not everyone shared his concern. “Sanjeev please read your history,” wrote former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai. “The EIC ruled a country with a military and they made laws. Elon is helping his president, doing work under his directions, that too a President like Donald Trump who is very clear he is the President. Bad example. Elon is doing a great service to the US,” he added.
Mohandas Pai’s sentiments were shared by fund manager Samir Arora. “100 pct wrong takeaway. His businesses – although many of them have govt contracts- are genuine value add and are not reliant on some shady, crony govt connections. Elon Musk is a net significant positive for the world,” he said.
What Elon Musk is doing is unusual — it’s rare for a business owner to be this visibly involved in running a government. Musk spends a lot of time at Mar-a-lago and the White House, and has met world leaders and business tycoons who were looking to meet the US President. Musk also met Indian PM Narendra Modi during his US visit.
But while Musk has been upfront about closeness with Trump, other business leaders have been more discreet about their political moves. Business leaders like Bill Gates and Reid Hoffman have also donated heavily to politicians, but have chosen to wield their influence from the shadows. Indeed, powerful businessmen have always held some sway over democratically elected leaders in nearly all democracies in the world — these leaders contribute large sums to get politicians elected, either directly or indirectly, and in return get a say in how governments function. Musk, though, stands out. For starters, he’s being completely upfront about what he’s doing, which seems unusual. Also, Musk is no ordinary business leader — he’s the richest man in the world, and runs several world-leading companies including X, SpaceX and Tesla. And him being heavily involved in world politics could take some getting used to for most people.