Banks continue to deny loans to street vendors under PM SVANidhi during the COVID-19 pandemic in the city, even after seven meetings with the Greater Chennai Corporation.
At a meeting of bankers on Monday, the GCC advised them to disburse loans to all street vendors.
“As many as 19,000 street vendors have applied for loans under the PM SVANidhi scheme. Banks in Chennai have disbursed loans to only 2,600 street vendors. Some banks have disbursed loans to most of the applicants. But most of the banks have rejected the applications,” said an official of the GCC.
At a meeting held a few weeks ago, Corporation Commissioner G. Prakash directed the banks to disburse loans to all applicants in 10 days. But the bank branches disbursed loans to less than 500 street vendors before the deadline. As a result, the GCC is planning to compile a list of all branches that have rejected the applications.
The data will be shared with the Central and State governments.
At least 15,000 street vendors who have identity cards are yet to get loans.
Most of the letters of recommendation issued by the GCC were rejected by the banks, which argued that the applicants did not have identity cards. Corporation officials explained to the bank representatives that the letters were issued to those who did not have identity cards. They stressed the need for creating awareness among bank officials of the importance of such loans during the pandemic. The bank representatives said they did not have the manpower to help the street vendors during the pandemic.