Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs under the banner of ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ launched PM SVANidhi Scheme to help the street vendors to restart their businesses post COVID-19 lockdown.
Covid-19 lockdown made street vendors’ life miserable and they are running out of money to restart their businesses after lockdown. PM SVANidhi scheme aims to provide working capital for street vendors who do business in a small margin. This credit scheme would help them to climb the economic ladder.
It is a short-term collateral-free loan up to Rs.10000 for the tenure of 1 year. The government said that 50 lakh street vendors from urban,semi-urban, and rural would be the beneficiaries of this scheme. According to the official statement, the government said that it already received 5 lakh applications from the street vendors of the different parts of the country and sanctioned more than 1 lakh loans. The idea behind this scheme is that bringing ‘Banks at the doorsteps’ of these‘nano-entrepreneurs’. Interest subsidy at 7 % per annum on regular repayment of the loan, cashback up to Rs.1200 per annum on prescribed digital transactions, and eligibility for enhanced next tranche of loan have also been provided are the most attractive features of this scheme.
Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and the Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs) as lending institutions in addition to Scheduled Commercial Banks – Public & Private, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks, SHG Banks, etc are engaged in this project. A graded guarantee cover is provided, on a portfolio basis, to these lending institutions through Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) to encourage lending to Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is the implementation partner for the scheme street vendors. Use of an integrated IT Platform (pmsvanidhi.mohua.org.in), Web Portal and Mobile App has enabled the Scheme to extend its reach and benefits to this segment of society with the objective of minimum government and maximum governance
With financial assistance, the government needs to give street vendors a clear idea of what further work should be done for maintaining hygiene in their work. Street vendors are the primary point of contact within the supply chain for consumers, and in a very time when public scrutiny for hygiene is certain to be high, it becomes crucial, to produce appropriate training to vendors on safety & hygiene and adopting innovation in vendor certification on FSSAI standards, to extend general public confidence on street vending.
