Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Yojana is a Central scheme to facilitate street vendors to access affordable working capital loans for resuming their livelihood activities.
The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns to contain its spread had adversely impacted the livelihoods of street vendors, who usually work with a small capital base. This capital had been largely consumed during the lockdown. The credit for working capital to street vendors proved to be helpful to resume their livelihoods.
PM SVANidhi facilitates working capital loan up to Rs 10,000 at subsidised rate of interest, incentivises regular repayment of loan, and rewards digital transactions.
While providing the initial working capital, the scheme offers interest subsidy of 7 per cent on timely or early repayment. It has provisions for higher loan eligibility on timely repayment of the first loan. The scheme identifies street vendor or hawker as any person engaged in vending of articles, goods, wares, food items or merchandise of daily use or offering services to the public in a street, footpath, pavement etc., from a temporary built-up structure or by moving from place to place.
The goods supplied by them may include vegetables, fruits, ready-to-eat street food, tea, pakoras (or fritters), breads, eggs, textile, apparel, artisan products, books, stationary, etc. The services include barber shops, cobblers, paan shops, and laundry services etc.
Credit is provided from lending institutions such as scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks, small finance banks, cooperative banks, non-banking financial companies, microfinance institutions and Self Help Group Banks.
