PM SVANidhi: Centre launches 'Letter of Recommendation' module for street vendors

Street vendors, who don't have identity cards or certificate of vending, will now be able to avail benefits under the PM SVANidhi scheme as the Centre on Friday launched the ''Letter of Recommendation module'' through which they can get loans of up to Rs 10,000.

Union Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra launched the facility and said an eligible vendor can request for a Letter of Recommendation (LoR) with an urban local body, said a statement from the ministry.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor's Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme, vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs 10,000 which is repayable in monthly instalments in the tenure of one year.

Mishra said after getting the LoR, a vendor can apply for the loan under the scheme.

According to the ministry, the LoR module is designed to give access to street vendors who do not have identity cards and certificates of vending and are not in the surveyed list for availing benefits under the scheme.

To apply for the LoR from the urban local body through an online module on the PM SVANidhi portal, a vendor needs to possess any one of these documents -- proof of availing one-time assistance provided by certain states during the period of lockdown, membership details with the vendors'' associations, or any other documents to prove that he is a vendor.

"Also, a vendor can also request ULB (urban local body) through a simple application on white paper to conduct a local enquiry to ascertain the genuineness of the claim as a vendor. ULBs will have to dispose of the request for issue of LoR within a period of 15 days," said in the statement.

It stated that the vendors possessing LoR will be issued a certificate of vending or identity card within a period of 30 days.

PM SVANidhi was launched by the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry on June 1 for providing affordable working capital loan to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been adversely affected due to the pandemic-induced lockdown.