Street vendors who do business with pushcarts were the major beneficiaries of PM SVANidhi (Prime Minister Street Vendor’s Aatmanirbhar Nidhi) scheme, constituting nearly two-thirds of the loans availed.

On June 1 last year, the government launched PM SVANidhi scheme to provide affordable working capital loan to street vendors, who were adversely affected due to Covid-19 induced lockdown.

Launched by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the scheme aimed at providing working capital loans of up to ₹10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments in one year.

One-fourth in UP

Till January 31, Out of the 18.38 lakh applications 13.82 lakh beneficiaries got loans to the tune of ₹1,363.88 crore. According to the data provided till January 31, nearly one-fourth of the loan amount was disbursed in Uttar Pradesh. The disbursal was at ₹354.26 crore in the State, followed by Madhya Pradesh (₹238.40 crore) and Telangana (₹237.35 crore).

The amount disbursed was only ₹11.6 lakh in West Bengal till January 31. Compared to this, the north-eastern States such as Manipur and Tripura disbursed ₹4.24 crore and ₹1.44 crore, respectively.

Interestingly, Madhya Pradesh had taken an early lead in September with three-fourth of the amount disbursed under the scheme being availed in the State. Of the ₹120.61 crore disbursed till September 17 2020, Madhya Pradesh’s share stood at ₹92.61 crore.

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Lending institutions

Of the 125 lending institutions that extended the loans under the scheme till January 31, the major share was contributed by the public sector banks such as State Bank of India (₹382.96 crore), Union Bank of India (₹171.23 crore), and Bank of Baroda (₹145.37 crore).

Among the private sector banks, Karnataka Bank disbursed ₹3.23 crore, followed by HDFC Bank (₹1.65 crore) and ICICI Bank (₹1.19 crore).

Food vendors top list

Data available on the PM SVANidhi dashboard (updated till February 8) showed that 46 per cent of beneficiaries were fruits and vegetables vendors, followed by 21 per cent of street vendors who sells fast food and other consumables. Other vending activities such as cloth and handloom(13 per cent), beauty and fashion accessories (5 per cent), and flower and puja items (3 per cent) among others.

The average age of applicant was 41 years. The maximum share of PM SVANidhi loans was taken by men at 61 per cent and women at 39 per cent.

Cities and towns

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (in population above 40 lakh range), Indore Municipal Corporation (above 10 lakh to below 40 lakh range), Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (above 1 lakh to below 10 lakh), and Kamareddy Municipality (below 1 lakh population) were the top performing urban local bodies in terms of the maximum number of disbursals till February 8.

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