PM SVANidhi scheme: 1202 street vendors identified in J&K; over 600 applied for loan

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has identified 1202 street vendors under Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi), to provide affordable loans to vendors, who have been affected due to COVID-19 lockdown.
Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, PM SVANidhi scheme on June 1, 2020, which aims to provide affordable working capital loans to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been affected due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The scheme will be provided a working capital loan up to Rs 10,000 to street vendors including rehriwala, thelewala, fadiwala and hawkers for the tenure of one year .
It also provides for incentives in the form of interest subsidy @ 7% per annum on regular repayment of loan and cash-back upto Rs 100 per month on undertaking prescribed digital transactions. Further, on timely or early repayment, the vendors will be eligible for the next cycle of working capital loan with an enhanced limit.
“Of these identified vendors in Jammu and Kashmir, 673 applied for loans,” an official associated with implementation of scheme told The News Now.
He added that the capital loan of Rs 7.5Lakh has been sanctioned so far. “Of sanctioned loans, Rs 1.6 Lakh has been disbursed so far,” he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that the livelihood of street vendors has been hit hard by coronavirus lockdown. “They work with small financial cushion, as such, some must have suffered losses during the pandemic, and while some must not have been able to earn anything and aren’t left with the capital to restart their businesses. Therefore, there is an urgent need to aid them,” an official said.
Moreover, in order to extend coverage, the street vendors who are left out of the Urban Local Body-led identification survey, or rural vendors vending in urban areas, have been made eligible to take benefit under the Scheme on production of a Letter of Recommendation issued by the ULB.