PM SVANidhi: Over 24 lakh loans extended so far; this many disbursed in Q1 of scheme’s second year

The RBI on Thursday had extended the PIDF scheme to street vendors covered under the SVANidhi scheme in tier-1 and tier-2 centres. (PTI Photo)

Credit and Finance for MSMEs: Disbursements under micro-credit scheme PM SVANidhi for street vendors to recover from the Covid impact have jumped to 24.48 lakh loan applications involving Rs 2,426.47 crore as of August 29, 2021, from 20.65 lakh applications involving Rs 2,045 crore as of June 3, 2021, according to the official data. Launched on June 1, 2020, PM SVANidhi offers a working capital loan of up to Rs 10,000 for 12 months under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative to Covid-hit street vendors including hawkers selling fruits, vegetables, tea, footwear, local snacks, books, etc. Around 3.83 lakh applications involving Rs 381 crore disbursed during the nearly three-month period (June 3, 2021 — August 29, 2021) was higher in comparison to 1,36,850 loan applications involving Rs 136.36 crore disbursed till Sep 21, 2020 since its launch.

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Overall, 45.11 lakh applications were received during nearly 15-month period (as of August 29, 2021), of which 26.98 lakh worth Rs 2,696.26 crore were sanctioned while 6.61 lakh applications were found ineligible and were returned by partner banks, available data from Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs showed. 44 per cent applications disbursed belonged to fruits and vegetables vendors followed by 21 per cent to fast food and food items vendors, 14 per cent to vendors in cloth and handloom items, 5 per cent to vendors in beauty and fashion accessories, etc.

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The scheme had targeted disbursement of 30 lakh applications during its first year however due to Covid disruption in April and May this year, it fell short of the target. “30 lakh was very ambitious target. However, we should have achieved that target or reached close to it in April and May but due to the second Covid wave, not even a single loan was disbursed. Moreover, while the scheme was launched on June 1, the processing of applications had started on July 2. So, three months went in vain,” Sanjay Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had told Financial Express Online.

Importantly, the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday had extended the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme, which was announced by the central Bank in January this year to encourage deployment of Points of Sale (PoS) infrastructure in tier-3 to tier-6 centres and north eastern states, to street vendors covered under the SVANidhi scheme in tier-1 and tier-2 centres. The decision “will provide fillip to the Reserve Bank’s efforts towards promoting digital transactions at the grass root level,” a statement by RBI had said. PIDF aims at creating 30 lakh new touch points every year for digital payments and would be operational for three years in the beginning. The scheme has a corpus of Rs 345 crore (Rs 250 crore contributed by RBI and Rs 95 crore by the major authorised card networks in the country).