As per a senior government official, loans worth Rs 3,628 crore have been sanctioned under the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi scheme) Yojna to more than 34 lakh street vendors since its launch. The loan amount is directly released to beneficiaries by the banks at a concessional rate of 7 percent.
Addressing the Civil Services Day event, Department of Financial Services Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said Rs 3,288 crore has been disbursed to 31.19 lakh beneficiaries under the scheme.
PM SVANidhi scheme was announced in May 2020 as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. It is a special micro-credit facility for the street vendors, who were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic so that they can resume their livelihood activities. Under this scheme, a vendor can avail of a working capital loan of up to Rs 10,000 followed by loans of Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000 in the second and third tranches, respectively, on repayment of earlier tranche or tranches.
