The Prime Minister Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi, PM SVANidhi, scheme has achieved a momentous milestone by extending its support to more than 50 lakh street vendors across the nation.
Street vendors have long played an integral role in the urban informal economy, providing essential goods and services to urban residents. An initiative under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the scheme has been instrumental in bringing them into the formal economic fold, presenting fresh avenues for upward mobility.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to broaden the scheme's reach has prompted concerted efforts towards its expansion. Beginning on the 1st of July this year, a campaign was launched by the Ministry, revising the targets to be
achieved under the Scheme. Several high-level reviews and monitoring were undertaken during this period.
This collective effort resulted in disbursement of almost 66 lakh loans, with a value exceeding 8,600 crore rupees, to over 50 lakh street vendors. States have wholeheartedly embraced the scheme, with the recent campaign yielding impressive results. Over the past three months, states have successfully onboarded more than 12 lakh new vendors, the highest ever, with many more in the process of enrollment.
The PM SVANidhi Scheme was launched on 1st of June 2020 is a micro-credit scheme for urban street vendors that aims to provide collateral-free working capital loans of up to 50 thousand rupees.