Loan worth Rs 13,422 cr given to street vendors under PM SVANidhi scheme

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has disbursed  9,431,000 loans amounting to a total of Rs 13,422 crore to street vendors under the PM SVANidhi scheme till December 8, Rajya Sabha was informed on Monday.

In a written reply to a question, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu said that out of 9,431,000 loans, 4,036,000 loans have been repaid by street vendor beneficiaries.

The micro-credit scheme for urban street vendors, which provides collateral-free loans up to Rs 50,000, was launched by the Narendra Modi government in 2020 during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The minister said that no fraud-related complaints have been received against the agencies or companies disbursing loans under the Prime Minister Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (SVANidhi) scheme.

"As on 08.12.2024, 9,431,000 loans have been disbursed amounting to Rs 13,422.16 crore under the PM SVANidhi scheme. Out of 9,431,000 loans, 4,036,000 loans have been repaid by street vendor beneficiaries," he said in the written reply.

All states have been divided under three categories based on their size -- large states, hilly and northeast states, small states and Union territories, Sahu said.

He also said that based on their size and categorisation, each state has been provided a disbursement target against which their performance is measured and ranked.

In July this year, Madhya Pradesh secured the first place under the 'Best Performing State' category in the PM SVANidhi scheme.

After Madhya Pradesh, Assam has been ranked second in the 'Best Performing State- Innovation and Best Practices Award' category.