Surat/Bhagalpur, Jan 23 (IANS) The Prime Minister’s SVANidhi Scheme has transformed the lives and helped to strengthen the economic condition of millions of street vendors hailing from Surat (Gujarat) and Bhagalpur (Bihar).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a credit card virtually for street vendors and also distributed loans to one lakh beneficiaries.

At a programme organised by the Surat Municipal Corporation at the Surat Science Centre, Union Minister C.R. Patil distributed cheques to street vendors and also felicitated bank officials who provided loans to the vendors.

On this occasion, Surat Municipal Commissioner Shalini Agarwal told that the credit card has been launched under the Prime Minister Street Vendors’ AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme. Under this scheme, the Surat Municipal Corporation has disbursed loans worth nearly Rs 2.03 crore in the categories of Rs 10,000, Rs 20,000, and Rs 30,000 to more than one lakh people residing in Surat city.

The PM SVANidhi scheme is a Indian government micro-credit initiative launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to provide affordable, collateral-free working capital loans to street vendors for restarting businesses, focusing on financial inclusion and digital empowerment through credit cards and interest subsidies for socio-economic upliftment.

Originally for Covid-19 relief, it’s been restructured and extended to support business expansion, offering loans up to Rs 50,000 in tranches, plus incentives for digital payments, with a focus on formalising the urban informal economy.

Santosh Gupta, a PM SVANidhi scheme beneficiary from Surat and a vegetable vendor, received his first loan of Rs 10,000 which converted into 12 EMI’s of Rs 891, after the successful repayment of credit, got his second loan of Rs 25,000.

“It is very beneficial for the small and medium street vendors to get access to a collateral free loan ranging from Rs 25,000 to 50,000 to scale-up their business.”

Santosh Mishra, another PM SVANidhi scheme beneficiary from Surat, said that he received his first loan of ten thousand rupees.

“After the successful repayment of first loan of Rs 10,000, I got my second loan of twenty five thousand rupees and the third loan of fifty thousand rupees. Today I have been sanctioned a credit card with the limit of ten thousand rupees.”

Another scheme beneficiary and a fruit-seller, Mayuri Solanki, received a loan of fifty thousand rupees today.

Beneficiaries from Bhagalpur echoed similar responses such as Anita Kumari, who at first received a loan of ten thousand rupees, and now she got a loan of twenty five thousand rupees which is ready to get disbursed by the bank.

Santosh Mishra said: “Earlier the street vendors were being exploited by the local lenders, lending money in return of high rate of interest. However, now with the help of PM SVANidhi scheme, these street vendors are leading their lives with ease and their standard of living has increased.”

–IANS

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