Modi Govt Sanctions 23 Lakh Loans To Street Vendors Under PM SVANidhi Scheme

The Modi government sanctioned 23 lakh loans and disbursed 18.54 lakh loans to the beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors, Atma Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme (PM SVANidhi).

This was stated by Anurag Singh Thakur, union minister of state for finance and corporate affairs, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Monday (22 March).

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors, Atma Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme (PM SVANidhi) in June, 2020, with the objective to facilitate collateral free working capital loan up to Rs 10,000 of one year tenure, to about 50 lakh street vendors across the country whose businesses had been adversely affected due to lockdown.

The scheme also provides for incentives in the form of interest subsidy of seven per cent per annum on regular repayment of loan and cash-back reward upto Rs 100 per month on undertaking prescribed digital transactions.

On timely or early repayment, the vendors are eligible for enhanced working capital loan during the next cycle.

The scheme further provides for socio-economic profiling of beneficiaries and their families to determine their eligibility for various central government welfare schemes and link them to these schemes.

It also aims to facilitate beneficiary street food vendors to on-board e-commerce platforms for food delivery.