The Editorial Page: Between government and RBI, getting back the investor 10 SaTURDaY, JUNE 6, 2026 JourNalIsm of Courage MuMBAI, lAte CItY, 20 PAGeS ₹5.00 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 reG.no. mcs/067/2018 - 20 rni reGn. no. 1543/57 Differential rates ondeposits beyondRBInorms notacceptable, saysGovernor fIIs hOLD rs 3.75 LaKh CrOre, Or 3.34%, Of rs 112 LaKh CrOre GOvt DeBt 110 138 171 80 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 threekilled, homesset ablazeinattack onKukivillage inManipur 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 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. calling for the assailants to be apprehended, it added that it “shall not be held responsible for any consequences arising from this heinous crime.” HaokholetKipgen,thelocal Mla, an Independent, condemned the incident and stated, “I call upon the central Forces, State Forces, and the GovernmentofIndiatotakeimmediate and decisive action to restoresecurityinthearea,protectvulnerablevillages,prevent furtherattacks,andensurethat »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 To draw funds, prop rupee, govt scraps Fii capital gains, 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 New Delhi, June 5 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 l Foreigninvestmentin 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 6,634 124 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. 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 »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 New Delhi, June 5 Mumbai, June 5 Maharashtra tightens approvals for new infrastructure projects rBi Governor sanjay malhotra in mumbai, Friday. PtI Business as Usual By EP UNNY New scrutiny kicks in when cost of proposed and ongoing projects exceeds twice a dept’s average annual expenditure over past 3 years vallabh Ozarkar Mumbai, June 5 THeMaHaRaSHTRagovernment has introduced an additionallayerofscrutinyforinfrastructure projects after finding that several departments were taking up works far beyond their available financial capacity, leading to delays and sharp cost escalations. Under a government circular issued by the Planning department, departments will now have to seek clearance from a chief Secretary-led High-Powered committee on construction before taking up new projects if the combined costoftheproposedprojectand pending commitments from Owner of B&B where 21 died was held last year in fake passport case Mahender Singh Manral & alok Singh George Mathew »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 debris being cleared at the site of the gutted B&B facility in hauz rani, south delhi, on Friday. AMIt MehrA Police: Bajaj took money to let Bangla nationals use his Delhi home address RBI eases norms for PSUs, banks to get foreign fund inflows 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 akash Mandal Mumbai, June 5 ongoing works exceeds twice the average annual expenditure incurred under the relevant budget head during the previous three financial years. earlier, such projects could proceed through the existing approval process, under which proposals are examined by the Finance department and then 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 subsequentlygrantedbail,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. The Big PicTure A neighbourhood called Hauz Rani PAge 13 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. The FIR stated that on »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 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 “certainly 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 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 Maharashtra State Road development corporation (MSRdc) for 2023-24 and 2024-25. Internal investigations in the bank, which took place just six days before then chairman atanu chakraborty had resigned citing certain practices within the bank not being congruent to his personal values, showed that these payments were meant as “differential interest” to MSRdc, i.e., interest on deposits over and above the specified rate. However, these paymentswereroutedor“camouflaged” through the bank’s marketing department instead of being paid directly to the »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 Penguin pulls plug on Joe Sacco’s book Facing rebellion, Mamata overhauls on 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal riots »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 TMC, brings in old-timers, loyalists atri Mitra & ravik Bhattacharya Kolkata, June 5 BeSIeGed BY a rebellion — firstbythenewlyelectedMlas, and followed by growing murmurs of an imminent split among her 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 The Tmc chief is set to visit delhi on June 8 for an india bloc meet old-timers. While Mamata has retained nephew abhishek Banerjee as the party’s national general secretary despite widespread criticism, she has appointed two jointnationalsecretaries–Rajya Sabha MPs derek o'Brien and dolaSen—toassisthim,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 »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 ritu Sarin New Delhi, June 5 Joe Sacco, the acclaimed graphic novelist whose illustrated dispatches from Gaza, Palestine, and the Balkans have explored new facets in war journalism and comics reporting, turned his unflinching eye on India in his latest work, The Once and Future Riot. In 135 pages, it chronicles the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal clashes that left over 60 dead and 40,000 displaced. Readers in India hoping to find it at their local bookstore will be disappointed: Penguin Random House India has pulled the plug on distributing the title, The Indian Express has learnt. The book, published last year, was expected to hit Indian shelves by august-September. But, Gaurav Shrinagesh, ceo of Penguin Random House (PRH) India, confirmed that the title was red-flagged during a pre-check and legal scrutiny process. “We had highlighted certain things on the Joe Sacco title but they (Penguin UK) did Published last year, the book was expected to hit indian shelves by aug-sept not get back to us,” he said. “one problem was a map in the book showing inaccurate boundaries of India. Besides that, we 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.” How many content queries were raised beyond the map issue remains unclear. The book is available in India on some online platforms which source copies from UK-based wholesalers — a parallel distribution channel »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2 l daTa reveals a PersisTenT Gender divide, wiTh women more Than Three Times as likely as men To Be livinG wiThouT a ParTner India’s ‘partner-less’ population shrinks but TN, Kerala buck national trend Zeeshan Shaikh or separated (W/d/S), down from 4.1 per cent in 2014. The sharpest reductions aT a time when there is a con- were recorded in Uttarakhand, versationaroundrisingdivorce where the W/d/S population rates and changing family fell from 6.2 per cent to 3.5 per structures, fresh demographic cent over the decade, and datasuggestsadifferentreality. chhattisgarh,whereitdropped The proportion of Indians who from5.2percentto3.6percent. are widowed, divorced or sep- delhi saw its figure decline arated has declined from 3.6 per cent to 2 page 1 overthepastdecade, per cent, while Gujaeven as a handful of rat fell from 4.8 per southern states have cent to 3.1 per cent. moved in the opposite direc- Bihar,whichalreadyhadoneof tion. the country's lowest proporaccording to the Sample tions, saw it decline further Registration System Statistical from 2.3 per cent to just 1.5 per Report 2024, 3.5 per cent of In- cent. dia's population is currently This national trend also classifiedaswidowed,divorced masksastrikingregionaldiverMumbai, June 5 anchor l india’s‘parTner-less’paradox A demographic look at the Widowed/Divorced/Separated (W/D/S) population (2014 vs 2024) THe Big picTUre: a sHrinKing demograpHic Contrary to urban narratives, the proportion of Indians living without a partner after marriage is actually falling nationally % of the total population 2014 4.1% 2024 3.5% gence. Tamil Nadu recorded the highest W/d/S rate in the THe gender cHasm living without a partner remains overwhelmingly a female reality in India. Men remarry; women overwhelmingly carry the W/D/S status for life Total population w/d/s (2024) women 5.4% men 1.6% country in 2024 at 7.2 per cent, up sharply from 5.7 per cent a decadeago.Keralawastheonly THe geograpHic diVide: THe soUTHern sUrge While almost all of India saw rates fall, two highly developed Southern states bucked national trend l 2014 Rate l 2024 Rate tamil 5.7% Nadu 7.2% é Surge 6.2% 6.3% é Increase Kerala other major state to record an increase, rising from 6.2 per cent to 6.3 per cent. Telangana remainedunchangedat4.6per cent. The contrast with northern statesisstark.UttarPradeshreported a W/d/S population of 2.2 per cent, Haryana 1.9 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir 1.7 per cent and Bihar 1.5 per cent. The critical takeaway from the2024dataisthatlivingwithout a partner in India remains overwhelmingly a female reality.Thefigureslaybareasevere structural disparity: men who divorce or lose a spouse are highly likely to remarry, while women overwhelmingly bear the social and economic burden of living out their lives with the W/d/S status. a decade ago, a massive 6.5 per cent of the total female population was classified as W/d/S, compared to a mere 1.9 per cent of males. While the overall numbers have improved, the gender chasm remains firmly intact. Today, 5.4 per cent of all Indian females carry this status, compared to just 1.6 per cent of males. While almost every state in northern, eastern, and western India mirrored the national trend of a declining W/d/S population, the data expose a massive geographic shift in the South. Two of India's most highly developed states completely bucked the national trend, registering notable increases in marital dissolution and partner loss. Tamil Nadu witnessed a drastic surge, jumping from a W/d/S rate of 5.7 per cent in 2014 to a country-leading 7.2 percentin2024.Keralaalsoexperienced an increase, rising from6.2percentto6.3percent. Higher female literacy, greater financial independence, and better social safety nets may be leading to a higher social acceptance of divorce and separation. Furthermore, the advanced healthcare systems in these states have led to higher life expectancies. Since in most marriages, the man is older,alargenumberofwomen in these states outlive their »CONtINueD ON PaGe 2