SAN FRANCISCO: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi began a two-day trip to Silicon Valley on Saturday with a visit to “green” car maker Tesla Motors Inc. and a meeting with Apple Inc’s CEO, Tim Cook.

Modi, 65, is the first Indian leader to visit the US West Coast in more than 30 years.

His trip follows a US visit by China’s President, Xi Jinping, who met with several tech leaders in Seattle recently.

Modi hopes to attract funds and skills from US innovators to help India’s burgeoning startup scene grow, and he will seek to encourage some Indians who have thrived around San Jose, California, to bring their knowledge back home.

At Tesla, Modi met with CEO Elon Musk and discussed renewable energy, which Modi is eager to bring back to India.

“Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Prime Minister Modi discussed Tesla’s developments in battery technology, energy storage, and renewable energy and the positive implications of this innovation for India,” Tesla spokesman Ricardo Reyes said.

Much of Modi’s agenda will also focus on connecting with Silicon Valley’s Indian diaspora.

Shortly after his arrival, he also met with the Indian community at his hotel and later met with members of the Sikh community.

Modi was also set to meet with Indian-born CEOs Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai of Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc, respectively, before a dinner with 350 business leaders on Saturday evening.

Nadella and Pichai were expected to lead a panel at the dinner, along with Adobe Systems Inc. CEO Shantanu Narayen, to discuss the economy and Modi’s “Digital India” initiative, which aims to connect thousands more Indian villages to the Internet and create more tech jobs. Modi is also scheduled to deliver a speech.

While Modi is likely to be received like a rock star in an area that is home to many of the world’s biggest high-tech firms, some groups have protested his arrival and urged tech companies to boycott the visit.

The Indian premier was also planning avisit to Facebook headquarters before the event at the San Jose Convention Center that 18,000 people are expected to attend.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Modi’s visit on his Facebook page earlier this month and invited users to post questions.

More than 37,000 comments were made in reply, with questions ranging from those about Internet expansion in India, unemployment rates and calls for Modi to address his human rights record.

Modi boasts an 87 percent approval rating in India and is the second-most popular world leader on social media after US President Barack Obama.

He has 15 million Twitter followers and more than 30 million “likes” on Facebook.

Speaking at Facebook townhall, the premier said: “The power of social media today is that it can tell governments where they are going wrong... social media allows governments  a chance to fix their mistakes.”

He added: “Today we are an 8-trillion-dollar economy and my dream is to make India a 20-trillion-dollar economy.”