Mobile App of PM SVANidhi Launched to Bring Microcredit Facility for Street Vendors

Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the Mobile Application of PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) here today. This App aims to provide user friendly digital interface for Lending Institutions (LIs) and their field functionaries for sourcing and processing loan applications of street vendors under the Scheme. The launch event was organised through a video conference in which, besides senior officials from the Ministry, Principal Secretaries dealing with Urban Development Department and other officials from the States and UTs participated.

PM SVANidhi Mobile App is a step towards boosting the use of digital technology and will enable field functionaries of LIs like Banking Correspondents (BCs) and Agents of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs)/ Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs), who have proximity with the street vendors, to ensure maximum coverage of the Scheme. It is believed that launch of Mobile App will give impetus to the implementation strategy of the Scheme besides promoting paper-less digital accessing of micro-credit facilities by the Street Vendors.

Ministry has already launched the Web Portal on June 29, 2020. This App has all the features similar to the Web Portal of PM SVANidhi added with the feature of easy portability. The features include vendor search in the survey data, e-KYC of applicants, processing of applications, and real time monitoring. The App can be downloaded from the Google play store for use by the LIs and their field functionaries. Since the commencement of lending process under PM SVANidhi on July 02, 2020, more than 1,54,000 Street Vendors have applied for working capital loan across States/ UTs and out of which over 48,000 have already been sanctioned.

PM SVANidhi was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, on June 01, 2020, for providing affordable Working Capital loan to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been adversely affected due to Covid-19 lockdown. This scheme targets to benefit over 50 lakh Street Vendors who had been vending on or before 24 March, 2020, in urban areas including those from surrounding peri-urban/ rural areas. Under the Scheme, the vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments in the tenure of one year. On timely/ early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy @ 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer on quarterly basis. There will be no penalty on early repayment of loan. The scheme promotes digital transactions through cash back incentives up to an amount of Rs. 100 per month. Moreover, the vendors can achieve their ambition of going up on the economic ladder by availing the facility of enhancement of the credit limit on timely/ early repayment of loan.

Source: PIB