Eye on north Indian votes, PM soft loan scheme for hawkers rolled out in Mumbai

MUMBAI: BJP on Thursday kicked off its outreach to the north Indian community ahead of the BMC polls as Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Svanidhi Yojana (PMSvanidhi), a loan scheme for street vendors through the BMC.
As part of the scheme, Rs 10,000 is to be transferred to each of the 1.03 lakh hawkers enrolled so far.

The BMC selected 8,000-9,000 hawkers from each of its 24 administrative wards. Former BJP corporators and functionaries took the lead and enrolled the maximum number of beneficiaries, said officials. With the loan scheme, BJP is looking to target north Indian voters, who make up a large chunk of hawkers.
According to rough estimates, there are around 50 seats where north Indian voters can play the swing factor. Traditionally, a large chunk of the north Indian community votes Congress. But in the 2017 BMC polls, many of them switched to BJP.
The Svanidhi scheme was launched in June 2020 to provide hawkers with easy access to capital to boost their business after the lockdown and the pandemic.
"This is a very important financial scheme for hawkers. The previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government did not let any hawkers benefit and failed to transfer the money," said former BJP corporator Vinod Mishra.
"The soft loan will be repayable with 4% interest per annum. This will prevent hawkers from falling into the trap of loan sharks. Those who pay back Rs 10,000 will get Rs 20,000, then Rs 50,000 and then Rs 5 lakh as soft loan. This will also help women self-help groups and encourage loan repayment," added Mishra.
BMC officials said more than 1 lakh hawkers will benefit. "We carried out 2,301 awareness camps in 24 wards. In these camps, street vendors were given complete information about how to apply online. Assistants were appointed to make it easier. Due to this multifaceted work till date, more than 1.2 lakh applicants have been given recommendation letters. Applications of more than 1 lakh have been approved," said an official.