Paying foreigners to leave.

"Indian equities indices snapped their two-week winning streak, falling more than 2% amid concerns over potential energy supply disruptions," as "For the week, the BSE Sensex declined 1,605.44 points, or 2.44%, to 74,729.27, while Nifty 50 fell 546.15 points, or 2.25%, to close at 22,600." MC. "The BSE Sensex reached an all-time intraday high of 86,159.02 points on 1 December 2025." Bajaj Finance. The index has fallen so much because "Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have spent the past two years wiping out almost nine years of buying in Indian stocks," as "From 2015 till now, foreign investors recorded net equity inflows of approximately minus $110 million. That means nearly $63.6 billion since October 2024 has erased the $63.5 billion accumulated during the preceding nine years." ET. "Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the recent weakness in India's stock market is partly linked to the ease with which investors can sell their holdings, while asserting that the economy's underlying fundamentals remains sound, according to a report." ET. Of course, investors, especially foreign funds, would not buy into the Indian markets unless assured of an easy exit whenever they wanted. The markets would have fallen much more without the support of domestic investors through Systematic Investment Plans (SIP) which "have held up despite Indian benchmark equity indices correcting around 9% over the past two years." "SIP contributions hit a record Rs 322.97 billion in August 2026." Mint. "Indian stocks are the cheapest they have been in six years. Bernstein still says they are too expensive for foreign investors." "This year foreign investors pulled Rs 3.08 trillion out of Indian stocks. Domestic institutions (DII), including mutual funds, put in Rs 6.83 trillion, more than twice as much," wrote Ankur Choudhary. By pushing up the prices of shares DIIs are helping FIIs to sell profitably. That is probably what the minister means when she says that selling is too easy. "Mutual fund SIPs are fundamentally the wrong product for India," said veteran investor Shankar Sharma. "Equity markets were never designed to enrich the masses. They tend to do the opposite: strip wealth from the many while making a few fabulously rich." Double taxation on share transactions is one reason why Indian shares lost attraction for foreign investors. In 2004, capital gains taxes were removed from equities and Securities Transaction Tax (STT), which is levied regardless of profit or loss in selling shares, was introduced. Thus, "In 2025-26, the Nifty fell 5% and the Sensex 7%, yet STT (collection) still rose 8% to Rs 575.22 billion." In 2018, capital gains taxes were reintroduced but STT was not discontinued. In 2024, tax on long-term capital gains was raised to 12.5% and that on short-term gains were raised to 20%, wrote S Sridharan & A Raghavendra M. In February 2025, Sharma warned about depending on the stock market for tax collections. "I invest globally. I pay zero capital gains tax anywhere. I only pay tax on dividend, which is minuscule. Nowhere in the world you get taxed on capital gains." BT. Between June and August 2026, the RBI raised $127 billion through tax free FCNR (B) scheme (NDTV), at 6.5% rate of interest with lock-in for 3-5 years  (Federal Bank), to support the rupee. Sharma said that this "does not address India's external-sector challenges and will instead effectively finance foreign investors' exits from Indian equities." MC. In effect, FIIs are getting more dollars in exchange for rupees as they sell. 'Atithi Devo Bhava', meaning a guest is akin God, is old Hindu philosophy. wikipedia. We are paying them to leave. That will make us 'sanyasis'. Meaning 'mendicants'. (Britannica). Does the government really want that?