Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman denied ex-finance minister P Chidambaram's claims that the government has cut capital expenditure. "The capex numbers have risen from BE (23-24) at ₹10.01 lakh crore to BE (24-25) at ₹11.11 lakh crore....The BE (25-26) for capex stands at ₹11.21 lakh crore," she said. She called Chidambaram's claims "misleading and based on flawed comparisons".