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With a view to promote growth, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stated that the effort of the government over the years has been to increase public expenditure. She said that the government in the 2023-24 budget increased the capital expenditure by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore.

The minister further said ‘Consistently for the last three-four years, the emphasis has been given on public capital expenditure. We have kept that up in this budget...capital expenditure, clearly can be said as a real focus of this budget’.

Regarding inclusion of petroleum products under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, she said it could be done if there is an agreement among the states. She further said that the states were being nudged to carry forward reforms in various sectors including power and also implement the 'one nation, one ration card' scheme.