The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved extension of the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) beyond March 2022 till December 2024. This has been done keeping in mind the impact of the pandemic-related stress on small businesses.

The official statement said that the scheme would focus on enhanced collateral-free affordable loan corpus, increased adoption of digital transactions and holistic socio-economic development of the Street Vendors and their families. 

“Through the Scheme, affordable collateral-free loans are being facilitated to the Street Vendors. The Scheme had envisaged to facilitate loans for an amount of ₹5,000 crore. Today’s approval has increased the loan amount to ₹8,100 crore, thereby providing the Street vendors working capital to further expand their business. The approval is expected to benefit nearly 1.2 crore citizens of Urban India,” the statement added.

 The budget for promoting digital payments, including cashback to the vendors, has also been enhanced.  

As on April 25, 2022, 31.9 lakh loans have been sanctioned and 29.6 lakh loans amounting to ₹2,931 crore have been disbursed. Regarding the 2nd loan, 2.3 lakh loans have been sanctioned, and 1.9 lakh loans amounting to ₹385 crore 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 ₹51 crore has been paid as Interest Subsidy,” the statement added.

The Centre believes the extension of lending till December 2024 would assist in institutionalising the access to formal credit channels, providing an assured source of credit, increasing the adoption of digital transactions and reducing the impact of potential NPAs on the lending Institutions.

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