No special treatment for American firms as US-India ties sour
India is not inclined to extend special treatment or relax regulatory requirements for Elon Musk's Starlink, maintaining that American businesses must follow the same rules and security procedures as other companies in the country. The Communications Ministry rejected Musk's allegation that "oligarchs" were blocking Starlink, calling the suggestion of unfair or discriminatory treatment baseless and misconceived. Sources said India-US relations have "nose-dived" and that friction is spilling over into the bilateral trade agreement negotiations, with New Delhi seeing little prospect of progress on an interim deal before the US mid-term elections.
Why it matters: The dispute sits within the briefing's trade theme, since India's refusal of regulatory concessions to US firms is tied to stalled bilateral trade agreement talks and to US curbs on Indian IT companies, professionals and visa categories.