New Delhi, Mar 22 (KNN) The government has sanctioned 23.24 lakh loans of which 18.54 lakh loans have been disbursed to the beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors, Atma Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme (PM SVANidhi) till March 15th, 2021.

This was stated by Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Monday.

The Minister stated that The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched PM SVANidhi on June 1, 2020, with the objective to facilitate collateral free working capital loan up to Rs 10,000 of one year tenure, to about 50 lakh street vendors across the country whose businesses had been adversely affected due to lockdown. The scheme also provides for incentives in the form of interest subsidy at 7 per cent per annum on regular repayment of loan and cash-back reward upto Rs. 100 per month on undertaking prescribed digital transactions.

The Minister further stated that on timely or early repayment, the vendors are eligible for enhanced working capital loan during the next cycle. The scheme further provides for Socio-economic profiling of beneficiaries and their families to determine their eligibility for various central Government welfare Schemes and link them to these schemes.

''The Scheme also aims to facilitate beneficiary Street Food Vendors to on-board e-commerce platforms for food delivery,'' he added.