The PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs 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. The duration of the scheme is until March 2022.
Features of PM SVANidhi Scheme
- The scheme is a Central Sector Scheme with the following objectives:
. To facilitate working capital loan up to 10,000
. To incentivize regular repayment
. To reward digital transactions
- The Scheme is available for beneficiaries belonging to only those States/ UTs which have notified rules and schemes under Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.
Beneficiaries from Meghalaya, which has its own State Street Vendors Act may, however, participate.
- The Scheme is available to all street vendors engaged in vending in urban areas as on or before March 24, 2020.
- Urban street vendors will be eligible to avail a working capital (WC) loan of up to 10,000 with tenure of 1 year and repaid in monthly instalments.
No collateral will be taken by the lending institutions. On timely or early repayment, the vendors will be eligible for the next cycle of working capital loan with an enhanced limit. No prepayment penalty will be charged from the vendors for repayment before the scheduled date.
- The vendors, availing loan under the scheme, are eligible to get an interest subsidy @ 7%. The interest subsidy amount will be credited into the borrower’s account quarterly.
- The Scheme has a provision of graded guarantee cover for the loans sanctioned, to be administered by Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE), which will be operated on a portfolio basis.
- The scheme will incentivize digital transactions by vendors through cash back facility. The transaction trail so created will build the credit score of vendors for enhancing their future credit needs.
- The Town Vending Committee (TVC) will play a very important role in identification of beneficiaries.
- The States/ UTs should prepare a roadmap for building up the capacities of street vendors to conduct e-Commerce and obtain necessary quality certifications from the concerned agencies like FSSAI.
- Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) will be the implementation partner for scheme administration and it will leverage the network of lending Institutions including the SCBs, RRBs, SFBs, Cooperative Banks, NBFCs & MFIs for scheme implementation.
