NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday unveiled Rs 5,000 crore special credit facility for street vendors keeping in view the adverse impact on their livelihood due to the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown.
Part of the second tranche of Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package, the move is likely to benefit nearly 50 lakh cash-strapped vendors who perhaps have been hit disproportionately harder than others, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
"The lockdown has had an adverse impact on the street vendors. We will provide a Rs 5,000 crore special credit facility for these vendors. The initial working capital of Rs 10,000 will be provided to each of them," Sitharaman said.
Industry representatives, however, fear that benefits in the form of loans are unlikely to come as much relief. "With cash flows drying up, hundreds of street vendors have already used working capital for their day-to-day expenses and are now left with no money in hand. Measures such as direct cash transfer is the need of the hour," rued Arbind Singh, national coordinator, National Association of Street Vendors of India.
Singh added that the association would write to the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday requesting them to convert these loans to grants as most of the workers near subsistence levels neither have savings nor confidence to borrow.
The National Hawker Federation (NHF), which represents street vendors across 28 states in the country, also notes that the liquidity support promised to the vulnerable vendors is a good step only when the sector is back on its feet.
"We have made several recommendations to the government seeking interest-free loans, provision of MUDRA loans with subsidies, if not direct cash transfer to support the vendors. These recommendations and the grievances raised, however, were ignored in today’s package," Shaktiman Ghosh, General Secretary, NHF, told Express.
Ghosh also suggested that a state-wise committee with representatives from various vendors' associations be formed. "The legally mandated street vendor survey has not been done in all parts of the country. Only 10 per cent of the total vendors have been surveyed. Today, there are two crore urban vendors including mobile vendors and another two crore rural vendors, weekly market, and railway vendors in India, taking the total count to 4 crore. However, a survey done in 1997-98 shows a figure of just 1 crore street vendors," he added.