JOIN USCentre extends colateral-free loans to street vendors till December 2024
The Union Cabinet Wednesday gave its approval to extend collateral-free loans scheme to street vendors till December 2024. The extension is likely to benefit 40 lakh street vendors.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also increased the loan amount to Rs 8,100 crore from the existing 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," said an official statement after the cabinet meeting.
The budget for 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, as on April 25, 31.9 lakh loans have been sanctioned and 29.6 lakh loans amounting to Rs 2,931 crore have been disbursed.
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 proposed 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 institutionalising 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, the statement said.
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