Context: The Union Cabinet has approved the restructuring and extension of the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme, extending the lending period from December 31, 2024 to March 31, 2030 with a total outlay of ₹7,332 crore.
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key facts about PM SVANidhi Scheme for Street Vendors.
Restructured PM SVANidhi Scheme for Street Vendors
- The lending period has now been extended until March 31, 2030.
- Total outlay for the scheme is ₹7,332 crore.
- The restructured scheme aims to benefit 1.15 crore beneficiaries including 50 lakh new beneficiaries.
- Implementation of the scheme: Joint responsibility of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Department of Financial Services (DFS). DFS will be responsible for facilitating access to loan/ credit cards through banks/financial institutions and their ground level functionaries.
Key features of Restructured PM SVANidhi Scheme for Street Vendors:
- Enhanced loan amountacross first & second tranche:
- First tranche loans have increased up to ₹15,000 (from ₹10,000)
- Second tranche loans increased up to ₹25,000 (from ₹20,000)
- Third tranche remains unchanged at ₹50,000
- Provision of UPI-linked RuPay Credit Card for beneficiaries who have repaid the second loan. UPI-linked RUPAY Credit Card would provide immediate access of credit to street vendors to meet any emergent business and personal requirements.
- Digital cashback incentives to the street vendors up to ₹1,600 on making retail & wholesale transactions.
- Scheme’s coverage is being expanded beyond statutory towns to census towns, peri-urban areas etc. in graded manner.
- Monthly Lok Kalyan Melas: To ensure holistic welfare & development of street vendors and their families, the ‘SVANidhi se Samriddhi’ component will be further strengthened.
- Standard hygiene and food safety training for street food vendors, in partnership with FSSAI.
- Capacity-building measures such as entrepreneurship, financial literacy, digital skills, and marketing will be converged with other government initiatives.
Achievements of PM SVANidhi Scheme:
- As of July 2025, over 96 lakh loans exceeding ₹13,700 crores have been disbursed to more than 68 lakh street vendors.
- Nearly 47 lakh digitally active beneficiaries have conducted transactions worth over ₹6.09 lakh crore.
About PM SVANidhi (Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi)
- It is a micro-credit scheme
- It was launched in 2020 as a central sector scheme fully funded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
- It provides handholding support to street vendors to tide over pandemic-induced economic stress.
- It facilitates collateral-free loans of ₹10,000, of one-year tenure with subsequent loans of ₹20,000 and ₹50,000 with a 7% interest subsidy
- The Scheme has a provision of Graded Guarantee Cover for the loans sanctioned, to be administered by the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE)
- The Town Vending Committee (TVC) plays a very important role in the identification of beneficiaries under this scheme.
Objectives of PM SVANidhi
- To facilitate working capital loan up to `10,000
- To incentivize regular repayment; and
- To reward digital transaction
Eligibility Criteria
The PM SVANidhi scheme is available to all street vendors engaged in vending in urban areas before March 24, 2020. The eligible vendors are identified as per the following criteria:
- Street vendors in possession of Certificate of Vending/Identity Card issued by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)
- The vendors, who have been identified in the survey but have not been issued a Certificate of Vending/Identity Card; Provisional Certificate of Vending would be generated for such vendors through an IT-based Platform. ULBs are encouraged to issue such vendors the permanent Certificate of Vending and Identification Card immediately and positively within a period of one month
- Street Vendors, left out of the ULB-led identification survey or who have started vending after completion of the survey and have been issued a Letter of Recommendation (LoR) to that effect by the ULB/Town Vending Committee (TVC)
- The vendors of surrounding development/peri-urban/rural areas vending in the geographical limits of the ULBs have been issued a Letter of Recommendation (LoR) to that effect by the ULB/TVC.
Eligibility of States/UTs
- The Scheme is available for beneficiaries belonging to only those States/UTs which have notified Rules and Scheme under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.
- Beneficiaries from Meghalaya, which has its own State Street Vendors Act may, however, participate
Who can lend
- Scheduled Commercial Banks
- Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)
- Small Finance Banks (SFBs)
- Cooperative Banks
- Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs)
- Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) and
- SHG Banks established in some States/UTs e.g., Street Nidhi etc.
The lending institutions will be encouraged to use their network of field functionaries i.e. Business Correspondents (BCs) / Constituents/ Agents extensively to ensure maximum coverage of the scheme