Street vendors represent a very important constituent of the urban informal economy and play a significant role in ensuring availability of the goods and services at affordable rates at the doorstep of the city dwellers. 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 for working capital to street vendors to resume their business.

• • It is a Central Sector Scheme i.e. fully funded by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with the following objectives:
• • Urban street vendors will be eligible to avail of a Working Capital (WC) loan of up to Rs 10,000 with tenure of 1 year and repaid in monthly installments.
• • For this loan, no collateral will be taken by the lending institutions.
• • On timely or early repayment, the vendors will be eligible for the next cycle of working capital loan with an enhanced limit.
• • The vendors, availing loan under the scheme, are eligible to get an interest subsidy @ 7%.
• • The interest subsidy amount will be credited into the borrower’s account quarterly.
• • The State / UT / ULB-wise list of identified street vendors will be made available on the website of the Ministry/ State Government/ ULBs and Web Portal developed for the purpose.

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Eligibility

The Scheme is available for beneficiaries belonging to only those States/UTs which have notified Rules and Scheme under Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. Beneficiaries from Meghalaya, which has its own State Street Vendors Act may, however, participate. The Scheme is available to all street vendors who were engaged in vending in urban areas on or before March 24, 2020.

PM-SVA Nidhi Through CSCs

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has decided that the beneficiaries can also apply in the scheme through Common Services Centres (CSCs) across the country. The scheme was launched through CSC on 21 July, 2020. The street vendors may visit their nearest CSC along with the required documents and get themselves registered for the Scheme.