BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad on Saturday urged public sector banks to devise a strategy and step up efforts to increase the digital onboarding of street vendors and scale-up their loan payments.
After reviewing the PM SVANidhi scheme in four eastern states including Odisha here, Karad appealed to the banks to accelerate coverage of SVANidhi loans to the poor. “Banks should fund the unfunded on priority,” he stressed.
The PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme, which was launched in June 2020 amid the pandemic, is a micro-credit facility that provides street vendors a collateral-free loan of Rs 10,000 with three per cent interest for a period of one year.
After a street vendor repays the amount, he can avail a second trench of Rs 20,000 and once the repayment is done, he will get Rs 50,000 in the third trench. The vendor will be eligible for a collateral-free loan Mudra loan up to Rs 10 lakh if he repays Rs 50,000 on time.
So far, as many as 53.41 lakh applications have been sanctioned while disbursements amounting to Rs 6,500 crore have been done in the country. Overall, the loan disbursement stood at around 50 per cent in the four eastern states. While the disbursement rate is highest 50.2 per cent in Odisha, West Bengal is at the bottom with only 16 per cent. The loan disbursement stood at 42.26 per cent in Bihar and 41.25 per cent in Jharkhand.
Karad said PM SVANidhi scheme envisages the empowerment of street vendors through hassle-free access to affordable credit and their digital onboarding for their economic development. “I have asked banks to sanction the loan applications within 15 days and disburse the loan in next seven days. They have been directed to clear all pending applications by organising camps in collaboration with urban local bodies on priority basis,” he added.
The performance of four states Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal under PM SVANidhi, strategies and future action plan for improving the performance and digital onboarding of street vendors were also discussed.