The PM SVANidhi scheme was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, on June 01, 2020. It aims to provide affordable working capital loans to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been affected due to the coronavirus lockdown.
It targets over 50 lakh street vendors who would be eligible to avail a working capital loan of up to ₹10,000. The street vendors will be allowed to repay the loan in monthly installments in one year. If someone can pay earlier than the tenure, an interest subsidy of 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries every quarter. And, there will be no penalty on early repayment of the loan.
The scheme is a Central Sector Scheme i.e. fully funded by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with the following objectives: (i) To facilitate working capital loan up to `10,000; (ii) To incentivize regular repayment; and (iii) To reward digital transactions
The scheme will help formalize the street vendors with above objectives and will open up new opportunities to this sector to move up the economic ladder.