Can Musk still drive Tesla in India?

San Francisco, March 16 (IANS) Tesla CEO Elon Musk has once again vouched to make India his next big market but the question lingers: Will the electric car ever run on desi roads?

Breaking his silence over India after 10 months, Musk tweeted late Friday that he would love to be in India in 2019 or next year.

"Would love to be there this year. If not, definitely next! India," Musk tweeted to a user.

His tweet came after Musk earlier blamed the Indian government's restrictive policies for giving up on his India dreams.

Musk also blamed the FDI norms for the delay in the electric car maker's entry into the Indian market.

Earlier this year, Tesla's Indian-origin Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja announced his retirement from the firm, thus bringing Musk's India dream to a halt again.

Musk wanted to drive Tesla in India in 2017 and Ahuja, who worked out of Tesla's San Carlos headquarters, quit the company in 2015 only to rejoin in 2017.

In May last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he would still love to roll out Tesla electric cars in India but the tough government regulations have forced him to apply the brakes on his plans.

"Would love to be in India. Some challenging government regulations, unfortunately," Musk tweeted in response to a Twitter user who wrote "No Tesla in India" on his Twitter handle.

"Deepak Ahuja, our CFO, is from India. Tesla will be there as soon as he believes we should," added Musk, also the SpaceX founder.

Tesla was expected to enter India with the Model 3 that sells for nearly $35,000.

In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Tesla headquarters at Palo Alto, California and met Musk who gave Modi a tour of the company's electric car plant.