The Central Government on Wednesday approved the continuation of the Prime Minister Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme till December 2024.
The approval was given by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with a focus on enhanced collateral-free affordable loan corpus, increased adoption of digital transactions and holistic socio-economic development of the Street Vendors and their families.
According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the scheme had envisaged to facilitate loans for an amount of Rs 5,000 crore.
"Through the Scheme, affordable collateral-free loans are being facilitated to the Street Vendors. The Scheme had envisaged to facilitate loans for an amount of Rs. 5,000 crore. Today's approval has increased the loan amount to Rs 8,100 crore, thereby providing the Street vendors working capital to further expand their business and making them AtmaNirbhar," it said.
The budget for the promotion of digital payments including cashback to the vendors has also been enhanced. The approval is expected to benefit nearly 1.2 crore citizens of Urban India.
"Under PM SVANidhi, significant achievements have already been made. As on April 25, 2022, 31.9 lakh loans have been sanctioned and 29.6 lakh loans amounting to Rs 2,931 crore have been disbursed. As regards the second loan, 2.3 lakh loans have been sanctioned and 1.9 lakh loans amounting to Rs.385 crore have been disbursed," it said.
The beneficiary street vendors have conducted more than 13.5 crore digital transactions and have been given a cashback of Rs 10 crore. An amount of Rs 51 crore has been paid as Interest Subsidy.
The Ministry said that the extension of the Scheme has been necessitated as the circumstances that led to the launch of the Scheme in June 2020 i.e. the pandemic and related stress on the small businesses, have not fully retracted.
"The extension of lending till December 2024, would assist in institutionalizing the access to formal credit channels, provide an assured source of credit to help them plan their business expansion, increasing the adoption of digital transactions, reducing the impact of potential NPAs on the Lending Institutions and providing holistic socio-economic upliftment for the Street Vendors and their families," it added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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