a) Whether the Government introduced a scheme called the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi);
b) if so, the details thereof including the objectives of the scheme;
c) the funds allocated for the said scheme in the current budget;
d) whether the Government has put in place a better mechanism to ensure that the beneficiaries are benefitted by the said scheme; and
e) If so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS
(SHRI HARDEEP SINGH PURI)
(a) & (b): Yes Sir. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has, on June 01, 2020, launched Prime Minister Street Vendor’s Amta Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme (PM SVANidhi). It aims at facilitating collateral free working capital loanupto?10,000 of 1 year tenure, to about 50 lakh street vendors across the country whose businesses had been adversely affected due to lockdown. It provides for incentives in the form of interest subsidy @ 7% per annum on regular repayment of loan and cash-back upto ? 100 per month on undertaking prescribed digital transactions. Further, on timely or early repayment, the vendors are eligible for enhanced working capital loan during the next cycle. The loan processing under the Scheme has commenced on July 02, 2020. So far, 39.91 lakh applications have been received. Out of these, 23.24 lakh loans have been sanctioned and 18.54 lakh loans have been disbursed.
(c): The allocated budget for 2020-21 is ?142.24 crore.
(d)&(e): As per the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) have to conduct a survey for identification of the Street Vendors and issue Certificate of Vending (CoVs) and Identity (ID) Cards. All street vendors who have been issued CoVs/ ID cards and who were vending on or before March 24, 2020 are eligible for the benefits under PM SVANidhi Scheme.
In addition, the vendors, from the surrounding development/ peri-urban/ rural areas, vending in urban areas, including thosewho have been left out of the ULB led survey or who started vending after completion of the survey, are issued Letter of Recommendation (LoR) by the ULBs for the purpose of availing the benefits under the Scheme.
Also, for seamless administration of the scheme, an end-to-end solution through an IT portal and dashboard have been developed in collaboration with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
Further, the cashback and interest subsidy amounts are directly credited to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries through the PAiSA (Portal for Affordable credit and Interest Subvention Access) maintained by Indian Bank.
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