NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that petroleum products can be included in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) framework once an agreement in this regard is reached among states.

The FM also said that the effort of the government over the years has been to increase public expenditure with a view to promote growth. "The provision is already available for petroleum products to be brought into the GST. My predecessor had already made the window kept open," she said while speaking at the Post-Budget interactive session with the members of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Five petroleum products namely. petroleum crude, motor spirit (petrol), high speed diesel, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel have temporarily been kept out and the GST Council shall decide the date from which they shall be included in GST. "Once the states agree, we will have the petroleum products also be covered under the GST. So, that's not so much of us not wanting it," she said. "It is the entire (GST) council saying yes, and saying yes, not just yes, because it's already in there.

The Finance minister further said  that the effort of the government over the years has been to increase public expenditure with a view to promote growth. She said that the government in the 2023-24 budget increased the capital expenditure by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore. "Consistently for the last 3-4 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," she said. 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.

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