and maintained current account surplus notwithstanding the rs 957 lakh crore erosion in gdp during 202021referring to the budget proposals she said the government is focussing on increasing capital expenditure capex which has a higher multiplier effectthe budget has raised capex by 354 per cent for fy23 to rs 75 lakh crore to continue the public investmentled recovery of the pandemicbattered economy the capex this year is pegged at rs 55 lakh crorethe spending on building multimodal logistics parks metro systems highways and trains is expected to create demand for the private sector as all the projects are to be implemented through contractorson the other hand sitharaman said the government has been trying to cut down revenue expenditure which has a much lower multiplier effectshe also said the centre has increased allocation for various social sector schemeson the allegations of rising inequality she said the government is promoting financial inclusion and providing loans under pm mudra yojanapm mudra yojana has created 12 crore additional jobs since its launch in 2015 she said adding urban unemployment has declined and reached the pandemic leveltalking about the weak financial health of bsnl she said the upa government is responsible for it as it did not provide adequate financial support to the stateowned companyalso she said it bled mtnl by charging rs 11000 crore towards spectrum feethe modi government on the other hand is providing adequate financial support to these companies to make them viableresponding to dmk member dayanidhi marans remark over her absence in the lok sabha during discussions on the budget sitharaman clarified that she is an elected member and not a nominated member of the rajya sabha and her absence was with the prior permission of the speakershe also said it is unbecoming of a member to belittle someone from the rajya sabha even if one is nominated by the government for some exceptional achievementsshe also mentioned that she has high regard for murasoli maran dayanidhi marans father for playing a key role at the doha meeting of the world trade organisation wtoshe added that murasoli maran was also a threetime member of the rajya sabhaaccusing the upa government of surrendering indias interest at the wtos bali round in 2013 she said the situation was rectified by the modi government otherwise it could not have procured foodgrains from farmers at msp from 2017 onwards