With a view to connect with beneficiaries of the street vendor specific scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday distributed loans to nearly 300,000 street vendors under the PM SVANidhi Scheme (Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi Yojana) besides interacting with them through video conferencing on the occasion. Also Read: Government Declares 18 More Individuals As Designated Terrorists Under UAPA; Check List Here

The PM wished the vendors in their endeavour, and said there was a time when street vendors did not go inside the bank but today the bank is going to their home. During the interaction with one of the vendors, the PM advised the vendor to use an earthen pitcher instead of a single-use plastic bottle for drinking water to save the environment.

At the time of interaction with beneficiaries from Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Aditynath also joined him in the video conferencing.


What’s PM SVANidhi Scheme ?

The scheme, specifically targeted for poor people selling goods on roads and tracks, and whose livelihood was most affected due to the coronavirus pandemic, was launched on June 1.

Under the scheme, street vendors can avail working capital of up to Rs 10,000 at subsidised rates. According to news agency ANI, over 24 lakh applications have been received under this scheme so far, with 557,000 applications from vendors in Uttar Pradesh, the highest across the country.

Almost 3.27 lakh applications from UP have been approved and loan of 1.87 lakh has been disbursed, ANI mentioned quoting the website narendramodi.in. Out of the total applications, 12 lakh have been approved and loans worth about 5.35 lakh have been disbursed, it added.

Launched by the ministry of housing and urban affairs, it is aimed to help street vendors, who were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic can resume their livelihood activities.

The interest subsidy on timely or early repayment of the loan is at 7 per cent and street vendors will be allowed to repay the loan in monthly instalments in one year.

If someone can pay earlier than the tenure, an interest subsidy of 7 per cent per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries every quarter. And, there will be no penalty on early repayment of the loan.

Also, there is a monthly cash-back incentive on digital payments. The benefits can be availed by street vendors or hawkers in urban, pre-urban and rural areas.

Scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks, small finance banks, cooperative banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), micro-finance institutions and Self-Help Group (SHG) Banks will be providing loans under the scheme.