Andhra Pradesh Government Releases Rs 16 crore for Street Vendors, Small Traders

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday (20 October 2021) released Rs 16.36 crore to help street vendors and small traders in the state. The money was disbursed under the Jagananna Thodu Scheme, which was launched to make funds available to street vendors, artisans, and small traders involved in traditional handicrafts.

Purpose of Scheme: 

The main purpose of the scheme is to help vendors, traders, and artisans who find it tough to repay high-interest loans that they have taken to keep their businesses functional.

Jagan Mohan Reddy, while speaking on the occasion said, "The reason for us disbursing Jagananna Thodu scheme twice is that bankers have found that among citizens repaying loans, 5 percent are non-performing assets (NPAs) and 11 percent are behind on their payments."

“We started this scheme to help small vendors in maintaining their businesses. After repaying, you’ll be able to get another loan in the same month,” he said.

The objective of the scheme is to provide relief to vendors of the burden of paying high-interest rates on private party loans. The government has given permission to pay the interest on the loans by reimbursing it to the accounts of beneficiaries.

Apart from this, the state government is providing interest-free loans of up to Rs 10000 to small vendors through this scheme.

The state government has discharged about Rs 950 crore in interest-free loans to 9.05 lakh people till now. The State government deposited the interest on the loans taken out by beneficiaries into their bank accounts on Wednesday.

About 4,50,546 beneficiaries who received loans in November 2020, from the first tranche and repaid them on time by September 30, 2021, got funds totaling Rs 16.36 crore, which is the interest on the loans taken.

After completing all payments on their previous interest-free loan, beneficiaries can also apply for an interest-free loan up to Rs 10,000.