PM Modi Lauds SVANidhi Yojana Scheme For Street Vendors

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded the success of PM SVANidhi Yojana, saying that the scheme is empowering street vendors in the country.

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 79th Independence Day, Modi said the PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi, a special micro-credit facility for street vendors, is one of grassroots schemes bringing changes to people's lives.

"You must have seen, they (street vendors) now accept and make payments through UPI. This kind of transformation reaching the last person reflects a government that cares," the Prime Minister said.

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry is implementing the scheme, which was launched in 2020 with the objective of providing an affordable working capital loan to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been adversely impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The scheme provides loans in three tranches — first tranche of Rs 10,000, second tranche of Rs 20,000 subject to repayment of the first tranche, and third tranche of Rs 50,000 upon repayment of the second loan.

In a written reply to a question in Parliament in July, the HUA Ministry said that more than 68.11 lakh street vendors have been benefitted under the PM SVANidhi scheme till July 22 this year since its inception.

In March this year, the ministry informed the Lok Sabha that a total of 30.97 lakh women street vendors have benefitted from PM SVANidhi, making up 45% of the total beneficiaries under the scheme.