25 lakh street vendors seek loan under PM SVANidhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that a total of 25 lakh applications had been received from street vendors so far under the 'PM Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi Scheme (SVANidhi scheme)' and loans have been sanctioned to 12 lakh of them.

Interacting with street vendors from Uttar Pradesh, the PM said 6.5 lakh applications have been received from UP alone and the loan sanctioned to 2.6 lakh applicants so far.

Under PMSVANidhi scheme, the Centre providing interest-free loans of Rs 10,000 each street vendors. Most of the loan seekers are sellers of fruits, vegetables, snacks, chaat and gol gappa.

Modi lauded Arvind Maurya, a momo and coffee stall owner in Varanasi, for his initiative of giving one free momo to those who wear masks and pay digitally. He also said security personnel don’t let him eat street food when he visits.

Modi congratulated bank employees for sanctioning loans to street vendors. “Today is an important day for Atmanirbhar Bharat,” he said.

“No paperwork, no middlemen or repeated trips to government offices are needed for the application. A street vendor does not have to go to anyone else to fill the form. Banks are coming forward to give loans,” the PM said.

“Those who played politics with the poor spread the impression that the poor would not pay back loans. But the poor have once again presented an example of their honesty. Vendors are repaying their loans,” he said.

“The Jan Dhan accounts were made fun of, but today these accounts are being used to benefit the poor,” he added.

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched PM SVANidhi Scheme on June 01, 2020, for providing affordable working capital loan to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been adversely affected due to Covid-19 lockdown.

This scheme targets to benefit over 50 lakh Street Vendors who had been vending on or before 24 March 2020, in urban areas including those from surrounding peri-urban/ rural areas.