So far, 49.48 lakh street vendors have been recognized in the country as being eligible for benefits under the PM Street Vendor's Atma Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
As per the scheme, abbreviated PM SVANidhi, allows vendors to obtain a working capital loan of up to Rs.10000, followed by loans of Rs.20000 and Rs.50000 in the second and third tranches respectively, on repayment of the previous tranche or tranches. The loan amount is directly disbursed to recipients by the lending institutions, according to the ministry.
According to the minister's reply, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum at 8.49 lakh, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 7.04 lakh. According to the government, Maharashtra and Telangana have identified 5.84 lakh and 5.02 lakh street vendors respectively, whereas Delhi has only 72,457 street vendors.
According to the ministry's response, there are no street vendors in Sikkim.
In Puri said that for socio-economic upliftment of street vendors, the MoHUA launched 'SVANidhi se Samriddhi' in 125 urban local bodies on January 4, 2021.
He said that it aims to link PM SVANidhi Scheme beneficiaries and their family members to select central government welfare schemes. According to the ministry, the states and union territories in the nation have identified a total of 4948614 street vendors.
Gujarat has 321406 street vendors, whereas Tamil Nadu has 309449 street vendors. The state of West Bengal has recognized 673 street vendors. In Andhra Pradesh, there are 256926 street vendors, whereas in Karnataka, there are 265477. There are 1,965 street vendors in Bihar.
The loan amount is directly released to beneficiaries by the lending institutions, the minister added.
The PM SVANidhi scheme offers incentives in the form of:
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interest subsidy @ 7% per annum on regular repayment of loan
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cash back up to INR1200/- per annum on undertaking prescribed digital transactions
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eligibility for enhanced next tranche of loans
