Fruit & vegetable sellers line up for subsidised loan for vendors under PM scheme

NEW DELHI: Street vendors selling fruits and vegetables have the maximum share of 46% of total 21.64 lakh loan applications that the banks and financing agencies have received under the PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM Svanidhi). Women vendors have 40% of all the applications received till Sunday.
The eligible vendors get up to Rs 10,000 subsidised loans to restart their business. While the loan amount is small, this takes care of the capital that street vendors require to run their business.
The official data show that Varanasi Municipal Corporation leads the list of municipal areas where 10,000 vendors have got the loan followed by Indore (7,838) and Bhopal (7,483). A total of only 271 street vendors have got the loan in Delhi, which has four municipal bodies and one cantonment area.
Among all states and UTs, a maximum of 1.19 lakh applicants have got the loan where bypolls are scheduled for 28 seats. Telangana has the second highest such applications (44,000) followed by Uttar Pradesh (43,200).
The scheme aims at facilitating the collateral free working capital loans of one year tenure, to about 50 lakh street vendors across the country. It provides for incentives in the form of interest subsidy at 7% per annum on regular repayment of loan and cash-back upto Rs 1,200 per annum on undertaking prescribed digital transactions.
Moreover, on timely or early repayment, the vendors will be eligible for the next cycle of working capital loan with an enhanced limit.
According to the official data, the average age of applicants is 40years. While it takes on an average 16 days for sanctioning the loan, in West Bengal and Manipur loans are sanctioned in seven days. In Sikkim, the average days taken is 73 and in Delhi the average period is 31.
The housing and urban affairs ministry, which is implementing the scheme, will soon link the PM Svanidhi to other social welfare and financial inclusion schemes.