Context: Recently the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs told the Rajya Sabha that a total of 42.7 lakh loans amounting to ₹5,152.37 crore had been disbursed to street vendors under the PM SVANidhi scheme out of which only 3.98 lacks or 9.3% were to hawkers from the minority communities.
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
