Street Vendors are an important constituent of the urban informal economy. It plays a significant role in ensuring the availability of goods and services at an affordable rate at the doorstep of the city dwellers. They are known as hawkers, vendors, rehriwala, Thelewala, etc. Supply of the most common good by them are food, pakodas, tea, bread, eggs, footwear, apparel, artisan products, books, stationery, etc. The other services offer by street vendors are barbershops, cobblers, laundry services, or Pan shops.
The COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns have adversely impacted the livelihoods of street vendors. They usually work with a small capital base and might have consumed the same during the lockdown. Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide credit assistance in the form of working capital to street vendors to resume their business.
The objective of launching the PM SVANidhi Scheme
The scheme is a central scheme, fully funded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with the following objectives:
The main objective of the scheme is to provide an economic boost to the street vendors by offering them working capital loans so that they start their businesses again and bring them back to normalcy.
The Eligibility criteria of States and Union Territories:
Only those beneficiaries can avail of the scheme who belongs to States/ Union Territories which have notified Rules and Scheme under Street Vendors as per the Protection of Livelihood and Street Vending Act, 2014. Beneficiaries from Meghalaya, which has its own State Street Vendors Act may, however, participate.
The Eligibility criteria of an individual to enroll in PM SVANidhi Scheme
Pre-Application Process of PM SVANidhi
The below-mentioned steps will guide you to start the application process on the portal.
A Provisional COV would be generated for you by the system while making an online application.
How to get enrolled for PM SVANidhi Scheme
The COVID 19 Pandemic crisis has left a major impact on the livelihoods of street vendors that work with the small capital base or used all the funds during the lockdown. Hence, there is a need to provide credit for working capital to street vendors to resume their business. For all those financial needs, PM Street Vendor Atmanirbhar Nidhi Scheme is available.