Public sector banks sanction 95% of total loans under PM SVANidhi scheme

Public sector banks have sanctioned 95 per cent of the total loans under PM SVANidhi scheme which aims at providing street vendors loans of up to Rs 10,000 to restart their business post the COVID-induced lockdown last year. The Centre launched the PM Street Vendors' Aatmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme on June 1 last year.

"Public Sector Banks at the forefront of #PMSVANidhi! have sanctioned 23,16,207 loans as on 31/05/2021, which is over 95% of total loans sanctioned under this scheme. Creating #AatmaNirbharVendors for an #AatmaNirbharBharat!," Department of Financial Services under the Finance Ministry said in a tweet.

Total applications sanctioned under the scheme were 24.21 lakh as on May 30, it said.

Under the scheme, collateral-free working capital loan of up to Rs 10,000 of one-year tenure is being provided. The scheme aims at financing approximately 50 lakh street vendors, to resume their businesses.

Incentives in the form of interest subsidy (at 7 per cent per annum) and cashback (up to Rs 1,200 per annum) are being provided to promote good repayment behaviour and digital transactions, respectively.