A street vendor (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images) State-owned public sector banks (PSBs) have approved 95 per cent of the total loans directed through Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship PM Street Vendors' Aatmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme.
The initiative aims to roll out collateral-free loans worth Rs 10,000 to street vendors in order to enable them to resume their respective businesses that dealt with a severe blow following the nationwide lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic last year.
Inaugurated on 1st June in 2020, about 24.21 lakh applications were sanctioned as per the scheme until 30th May 2021.
Putting out a word of praise for the PSBs, the Department of Financial Services tweeted, "Public Sector Banks at the forefront of #PMSVANidhi! have sanctioned 23,16,207 loans as on 31/05/2021, which is over 95 per cent of total loans sanctioned under this scheme. Creating #AatmaNirbharVendors for an #AatmaNirbharBharat!."
The capital loan is provided for a one-year-long tenure, whereas the project targets financing of almost 50 lakh street vendors, The Economic Times reports.
Furthermore, appropriate behaviour in repayment of the loans and digital transactions are promoted through incentives such as interest subsidy at a rate of seven per cent per annum and cashback up to Rs 1,200 every year.
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