The Editorial Page: Between government and RBI, getting back the investor 8 SATURDAY, JUne 6, 2026 JournaliSM of Courage kolkAtA, lAte CItY, 18 PAGeS ₹6.00 (₹12 in North east states, ₹20 in Andaman) l www.indianexpress.com DA I lY F r o M : A h M e DA B A D , C h A N D I GA r h , D e l h I , j A I P u r , ko l k AtA , l u C k N o w , M u M B A I , N AG P u r , PAt N A , P u N e , VA D o DA r A happening today lMera Yuva Bharat, under the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, will organise the ‘Youth for Viksit Bharat – MY Bharat Youth Convention’ in Delhi. It is expected to bring together over 6,000 young participants. Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com Business as Usual By eP UnnY Facing imminent split of To draw funds, prop rupee, TMC, Mamata overhauls govt scraps Fii capital gains, party, brings in old-timers fIIs hOLD rs 3.75 LaKh CrOre, Or 3.34%, Of rs 112 LaKh CrOre GOvt DeBt withholding tax on bonds Re under pressure, BoP deficit likely to be around $50-60 bn, move expected to result in good foreign fund inflows Siddharth upasani l Foreigninvestmentin New Delhi, June 5 CJPfounder Dipkelandsin Delhitoday, policeprepare forprotest aMIDPRessURetoattractforeignfundsandalsostabilisethe rupee, the Centre on Friday scrapped the capital gains tax, bothlong-termandshort-term, oninvestmentbyForeignInstitutional Investors (FIIs) in government bonds as well as the withholding tax they must pay on their interest income from these debt instruments. at present, FIIs pay 12.5% tax on long-termcapitalgains,30%on short-term capital gains, and around20%withholdingtaxon interest income. The decision, taken after at leasttwomonthsofinternaldiscussions, is expected to bring tens of billions of dollars in foreignfundintogovernmentdebt over the coming years, and bridgetosomeextentthelooming balance of payments (BoP) deficitthateconomistsestimate could even touch $60 billion in 2026-27. In an ordinance promulgated to amend the Income Tax act, 2025, after President »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 ‘cockroach Janta party’ founder abhijeet dipke Mahender Singh Manral & Jatin anand New Delhi, June 5 DeLhI POLICe has issued a series of instructions to its personnel for the planned protest by supporters of the online satirical platform ‘Cockroach janta Party’ (CjP) at jantar Mantar on saturday. The 2,000-odd personnel who will be deployed in the NewDelhidistricthavebeendirected to avoid confrontation with the protesters and to try to keep them calm through persuasion, sources said. The district will be divided into 12 zones, each of which will beheadedbyaDCP-rankofficer. Police will step up deploymentoutsidethehomesofvIPs including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home Minister amit shah, and education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who has been targeted by the protesters. abhijeet Dipke, who started the ‘Cockroach janta Party’ Instagram and X handles that became a phenomenon within daysoftheirlaunchlastmonth, is expected to arrive in Delhi from the United states on saturday morning. On Friday evening, spokespersonsforthe“youthpressure group” gave a call for a protest »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 The world PAge 10 FY26 growth estimate raised to 7.7 per cent; momentum strong: PM Siddharth upasani debtpositive,butfalling New Delhi, June 5 l Equity The INDIaN economy ended 2025-26 on an unexpectedly strong note, with the GDP estimatedtohavegrown7.7%onthe backofhighergrowthininvestments,theMinistryofstatistics and Programme Implementation (MosPI) said on Friday. l Debt (in $ mn) 18,306 124 6,634 1,342 -18,909 2024 2025 -28,202 2026 Note: FPI INVeStMeNt IN DeBt INCluDeS GeNerAl, VoluNtArY reteNtIoN, AND FullY ACCeSSIBle routeS; SourCe: NSDl E. explained Addressing concerns To assuage global investors, the government and the RBI have in unison announced a string of decisions to attract foreign money. In the last couple of years, heavy pullout by FPIs from equities and poor net FDI inflows have exerted pressure on the rupee. akash Mandal RBI GOveRNOR sanjay MalhotrasaidFridaythatbanksare permitted to provide differential interest rates on deposits in certain cases like senior citizens, but the central bank has very clear policies and conditions for such instances. he saidbanksmustbetransparent by clearly displaying rates to everyone, and offering undisclosed preferential rates is “cer- tainly not acceptable”. “We have a very consistent and very clear policy on deposits,astowhentheycanhave differentialrates.Ithinkforcertain categories of people like senior citizens, or depending ontenure…(insuchcases)then youcanhavedifferentialrates,” Malhotra said at the post monetary policy press conference. Declining to comment on anyspecificentity,hesaid,“But they (banks) have to be transparent at the same time. you George Mathew Mumbai, June 5 TO eNCOURaGe foreign capital inflows, the Reserve Bank of IndiaonFridayeasednormsfor state-owned enterprises to borrow overseas and for banks to mobilise foreign current deposits.Themovecomplements the government’s decision to »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 have to display them (the rates) toeveryoneclearly,andanydifferential rate beyond that, if someone is giving, is certainly not acceptable.” Malhotra’s remarks were in response to questions on the legality of banks providing loans with differential interest rates after The Indian Express reported last week that hDFC Bank’sinternalrecordsshowed the bank had made interest payments of Rs 45 crore to the »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 Three killed, homes set ablaze in attack on Kuki village in Manipur Sukrita Baruah Guwahati, June 5 ThRee PeOPLe, including a couple, were killed on Friday morninginanattackonakukiZo village in Manipur’s kangpokpi district, amidst continuing tensions in the state’s hills. a senior police official confirmed that an attack by “unidentified gunmen” took place on Loibol khullen village in kangpokpi on Friday morning, andthatthreebodieshavebeen recovered from there. kuki-Zo groups in the district have identified those killed as Letkhongam haokip (34), his wife Tinmary haokip (30), and jangminlan haokip (34). They have also reported that seven homes were set ablaze. While kuki-Zo groups have alleged that Naga armed groups are responsible for the attack, the official said that the matter is under investigation. “kuki Inpi Manipur unequivocally denounces this »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 RBI eases norms for PSUs, banks to get foreign fund inflows Differential rates on deposits beyond RBI norms not acceptable: Governor Mumbai, June 5 GDP growth in the last quarter of the year, or januaryMarch 2026, declined slightly to 7.8% from 8% in October-December 2025 — revised upwards from 7.8% — despite the Westasiawaroverlappingwith the final month. Marginal revisions were also made to the GDP growth barbaric act of violence against unarmedcivilians.Thedeliberate killing of innocent persons and the destruction of homes and livelihoods constitute a seriousviolationofhumandignity and fundamental human rights. The deliberate targeting of civilians and the destruction of homes can never be justified under any circumstances,” the kuki Inpi Manipur, a top body of the community, said in a statement. »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 rBi Governor sanjay malhotra in mumbai, Friday. PtI Appoints two MPs to assist Abhishek, drops Firhad Hakim ravik Bhattacharya & atri Mitra Kolkata, June 5 BesIeGeDByarebellion–first bythenewlyelectedMLas,and followed by growing murmurs ofanimminentsplitamongher MPs – Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, in a desperate bid to keep her flock together, on Friday announced a major organisational reshuffle in the party, packing it with loyalists and old-timers. While Mamata has retained nephew abhishek Banerjee as theparty’snationalgeneralsecretary despite widespread criticism, she has appointed two jointnationalsecretaries–Rajya sabha MPs Derek O'Brien and Dola sen – to assist him, signalling to the rebels that the decisionwillbetakenjointlyandnot unilaterally by abhishek. The announcement was made after the national working committee meeting of the party, which, according to sources, was attended by a handful of leaders at the TMC chief’s kalighat residence in kolkata. The reshuffle comes two Mahender Singh Manral & alok Singh New Delhi, June 5 PAge 3 FiRHAd HAkim StePS dOwn AS kOlkAtA mAyOR days after 60 of the newly elected 80 TMC MLas defied Mamata Banerjee and party number two abhishek Baner- Lavkesh Bajaj, the 60-yearold owner of Flourish stays B&B in south Delhi’s hauz Rani, where 21 people died in a fire Wednesday morning, was first arrested by Delhi Police last year in a fake passport case involving Bangladeshi nationals in central Delhi. he was chargesheeted in the case and subsequently granted bail, The Indian Express has learnt. Bajaj was arrested Wednesday evening by a team led by assistant Commissioner of Police Ritu Raj. On Thursday, the southDistrictpolicesoughthis custody before a Delhi court to ascertain and verify the details of all workers, employees and othersengagedintheoperation of Flourish stays, and to trace and apprehend jay Mishra, the accountant of the establishment, and Rakesh, the manager of the hotel. Bajaj, who is in police custodyforfourdays,isbeingquestioned. Police are conducting raids to nab Mishra and a team has been sent to his hometown in Bihar. Police: Bajaj took money to let Bangla nationals use his Delhi home address »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 The Big PicTure A neighbourhood called Hauz Rani PAge 12 debris being cleared at the site of the gutted B&B facility in hauz rani, south delhi, on Friday. AMIt MehrA according to a senior police officer, Bajaj had been arrested last year after an FIR was registered at Paharganj police station. “The case was registered injanuary,andhewasarrested months later after police found his connivance during the investigation. he was sent to Tihar jail and was released on bail after 15 days,” the officer said, adding that the matter is still sub judice. sharing details of the case, police said three Bangladeshi nationals – sweety sarkar, her daughter Pushpo sarkar and Pushpo’s minor son – were livingillegallyatahouseinPaharganj,usingforgedIndianidentity documents, including aadhaar cards and an Indian passport. TheFIRstatedthatonjanu- ary 29, 2025, police visited the house and found the two women and the minor boy. They failed to produce valid identitydocumentsand,during a search of the house, police allegedly recovered two Bangladeshipassports,anIndianpassport,aadhaarcards,andseveral bank-related documents. The police said the photographsonthethreepassportsappearedtobeofthesamewoman. They also found that aadhaar cards recovered from the premises carried different names and addresses but appeared to relate tothesameperson. Police said their inquiries revealed that sweety had secured an Indian passport using the address: B-50, 2nd Floor, GaliNo.18,Chattarpurenclave, Delhi. sources said verification »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 l inaccuraTe india map, no response To quesTions on conTenT, claims puBlisher Penguin pulls plug on Joe Sacco’s book on 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots ritu Sarin US SenAte OkS $70-Bn iCe FUnd; FAilS tO BAn tRUmP’S FUnd inside Owner of B&B where 21 died was held last year in fake passport case Random house India has pulled the plug on distributing the title, The Indian Express jOe saCCO, the acclaimed has learnt. The book, published last graphic novelist whose illustrated dispatches from Gaza, year,wasexpectedtohitIndian Palestine, and the Balkans shelves by august-september. have explored new facets in But,Gauravshrinagesh,CeOof war journalism and comics re- PenguinRandomhouse(PRh) porting, turned his unflinching India, confirmed that the title eye on India in his latest work, was red-flagged during a precheckandlegalscruThe Once and Fupage 1 tiny process. ture Riot. In 135 “We had highpages, it chronicles lighted certain the 2013 Muzaffarthings on the joe sacco title but nagar communal clashes that left over 60 dead they (Penguin Uk) did not get back to us,” he said. “One proband 40,000 displaced. Readers in India hoping to lem was a map in the book find it at their local bookstore showing inaccurate boundwill be disappointed: Penguin aries of India. Besides that, we New Delhi, June 5 wideR PeACe deAl in dOUBt AS iRAn deClAReS SUPPORt FOR HezBOllAH Tmc chief mamata Banerjee chaired the meeting of her party’s national working committee at her kalighat residence on Friday. FIle jee to choose expelled MLa Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition in the assembly. Within minutes of it, TMC leadership dissolved all the party committees and frontal organisations and, in a statement, said it would carry out a “comprehensive exercise of introspection, performance reviewandorganisationalassessment at every level”. The party has also reconstituteditsWestBengalunitbyreplacing incumbent state chief subrata Bakshi with former minister and Mamata loyalist ChandrimaBhattacharya.Bakshi,ontheotherhand,hasbeen appointedvice-presidentinthe party’s National Working Committee. also,sajdaahmed,Mamata Thakur, Nayana Bandyopadhyay, and swati khandekar have been appointed state vice presidents, while aroop Biswas, Rajib Banerjee, Babar ali, Pulak Roy, and ashima Patra have been appointed as state general secretaries. The state unit’s executive members will include jyotipriyoMullick,RanaChatterjee, BideshBose,TrinankurBhattacharjee, jaya Dutta, Tapas Chatterjee, vasundhara Goswamy and Goutam Deb. according to the TMC sources, more names will be added later to this list. While the list is packed with TMCold-timers,Firhadhakim has not found a place in the anchor Joe sacco; the book, published last year, was expected to hit indian shelves by august-september had raised some content questions and asked for citations which never came.” The publisher added, “We are very clear about this: if we know there is an inaccurate map and no changes are forthcoming, we will not do it. We have decided there will be no distribution of the book due to these red flags not being attended to.” Kolkata how many content queries were raised beyond the map issue remains unclear. The book is available in Indiaonsomeonlineplatforms which source copies from Ukbased wholesalers — a parallel distribution channel that PRh Indiahasnocontrolover.some southDelhibookstores,tiredof waiting, have imported copies directly from the Uk. sacco, who dedicated the book to India’s “hardworking rural journalists” — several assistedhimastranslatorsandresearchers and also feature in its pages — visited Muzaffarnagar a year after the riots. In a recent interview for Prism magazine, he reflected on what drew him to the story. “It’s a question of looking at the lies and presenting them as lies,” he said. “‘she said, he said’ is not journalism. That’s just quoting people. In this case, it was possible to make an effort to find out what actually happened.” In the book’s final chapter, “TheFutureRiot,”saccodwells on the politics behind the riots. The 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots occurredjustmonthsbeforethe 2014 general elections. “Communal violence, planned or not, can confer some electoral advantage,” he writes, “and bloodshed, properly framed, is nothing but a political building block.”