Staff Reporter / NEW DELHI
The number of loans sanctioned under the PM Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme has crossed one lakh.
The number of applications received under scheme has crossed the five lakh mark within 41 days of commencement of lending process.
The PM SVANidhi scheme has generated considerable enthusiasm among the street vendors, who have been looking for access to affordable working capital credit for re-starting their businesses post COVID-19 lockdown.
The scheme was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under the ambit of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’. It aims at facilitating collateral free working capital loans upto 10 thousand rupees of one year tenure, to about 50 lakh street vendors in the urban areas, including those from the surrounding peri-urban/ rural areas.
Incentives in the form of interest subsidy at seven per cent per annum on regular repayment of loan, cashback upto 1,200 rupees per annum on undertaking prescribed digital transactions and eligibility for enhanced next tranche of loan have also been provided.
PM SVANidhi Scheme envisages bringing Banks at the door steps of these nano-entrepreneurs by engaging the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and the Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs) as lending institutions. This is in addition to Scheduled Commercial Banks – Public and Private, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks, and SHG Banks.
The onboarding of the vendors on digital payment platforms is a very important component to build the credit profile of the vendors to help them become part of the formal urban economy.