The Editorial Page: Between government and RBI, getting back the investor 10 SaTURDaY, JUNE 6, 2026 JournaliSM of Courage PuNe, late cIty, 20 PaGes ₹7.00 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 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 Business as Usual By EP UNNY 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 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 FY26 growth estimate raised to 7.7 per cent; momentum strong: PM l Foreigninvestmentin 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. 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 Owner of B&B where 21 died was held last year in fake passport case Mahender Singh Manral & Alok Singh The Big PicTure New Delhi, June 5 George Mathew Mumbai, June 5 »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 rbI Governor sanjay Malhotra in Mumbai, Friday. PtI 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 Wednes- A neighbourhood called Hauz Rani PAge 15 day evening by a team led by Assistant Commissioner of police ritu raj. on Thursday, the Southdistrictpolicesoughthis custody before a delhi court to »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 »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 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 OWN YOUR INSTINCT. Drive home the Mercedes-Benz C-Class today. Facing rebellion, Mamata overhauls TMC, brings in old-timers, loyalists Atri Mitra & Ravik Bhattacharya Kolkata, June 5 BeSIeGed BY the 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 l INACCurATe INDIA MAp, No respoNse To quesTIoNs oN CoNTeNT, ClAIMs publIsher Penguin pulls plug on Joe Sacco’s book on 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal riots Ritu Sarin readers in India hoping to New Delhi, June 5 find it at their local bookstore will be disappointed: penguin Joe SACCo, the acclaimed random house India has graphic novelist whose illus- pulled the plug on distributing trated dispatches from Gaza, the title, The Indian Express palestine, and the Balkans has learnt. have explored new facets in The book, published last war journalism and year, was expected pagE 1 comics reporting, to hit Indian shelves turned his unflinchby August-Septeming eye on India in ber. But, Gaurav his latest work, The Once and Shrinagesh, Ceo of penguin Future Riot. In 135 pages, it random house (prh) India, chronicles the 2013 Muzaffar- confirmed that the title was nagar communal clashes that red-flagged during a pre-check left over 60 dead and 40,000 and legal scrutiny process. displaced. “We had highlighted cer- anchor published last year, the book was expected to hit Indian shelves by Aug-sept tain things on the Joe Sacco title but they (penguin UK) did 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. 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