Cabinet approves continuation of PM SVANidhi

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the continuation of lending under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi). PM SVANidhi has been extended beyond March 2022 till December 2024.

Key Points

• The focus will be on enhanced collateral-free affordable loan corpus, increased adoption of digital transactions, and holistic socio-economic development of the Street Vendors and their families. 
• The approval is expected to benefit nearly 1.2 crore citizens of Urban India. 
• The budget for the promotion of digital payments including cashback to the vendors has also been enhanced.

About PM SVANidhi

• Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs launched a scheme PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) to empower Street Vendors.
• PM SVANidhi Scheme was launched in June 2020 as a Micro-Credit facility that aims to empower street vendors to recover losses incurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The scheme not only extends loans to them but also aims for their holistic development and economic upliftment.
• The scheme intends to facilitate collateral-free working capital loans of up to INR10, 000/- of one-year tenure.
• It targets approximately 50 lakh street vendors, to help resume their businesses in the urban areas, including surrounding peri-urban/rural areas.
• The PM SVANidhi scheme offers incentives in the form of:
• interest subsidy @ 7% per annum on regular repayment of the loan
• cashback upto INR1200/- per annum on undertaking prescribed digital transactions
• eligibility for enhanced next tranche of loans
• Note: Close to 2 million applications have been received under this scheme, of which 752191 have been sanctioned, and 218751 loans have already been disbursed.
• 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 crores 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.