SVANidhi Scheme
Recently the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has launched the Street Vendor Atmanirbhar Nidhi (SVANidhi) Mahotsav.
SVANidhi Mahotsav has been organized to celebrate the success of Pradhan Mantri SVANidhi Yojana (SVANidhi Scheme). It is a cultural festival to recognize the contribution of street vendors to the Indian economy.
PM SVANidhi Yojana was launched in the year 2020. Under this, working capital loans up to Rs 10,000 are provided to street vendors.
This helps them to resume their livelihood, which was affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is a central sector scheme under MoHUA.
This is the first comprehensive effort for financial inclusion of street vendors.
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is the implementing agency of this scheme.
Achievements of Prime Minister Svanidhi (PM SVANidhi)-
- It is the fastest growing micro loan scheme.
- More than 36.6 lakh loans have been sanctioned so far.
- More than 30 lakh new vendors have been recognized through Letter of Recommendation (LOR).
Concerns related to PM Svanidhi-
- 12-13% of loans given to street vendors have become non-performing assets (NPA).
- Credit disbursement ratio has been low in some areas due to lack of awareness.
- The implementation of the scheme has not been uniform in all the states.
- Only 40% of street vendors have repaid working capital loans availed during COVID-19.
Benefits of PM Svanidhi-
- The loan amount can be repaid in monthly installments over a period of 1 year.
- Interest subsidy at the rate of 7% is given for timely/early repayment of loan.
- Monthly cash-back is given as an incentive on digital transactions.
- No penalty is levied for early repayment of loan.
Source – The Hindu
