All You Need To Know About Pm Svanidhi Scheme
Background:
Street vendors are a crucial part of the urban informal economy and help ensure that city residents have access to goods and services at reasonable prices right outside their front doors. In various places and settings, they go by the names of vendors, hawkers, thelewala, rehriwala, theliphadwala, etc. Vegetables, fruits, ready-to-eat street food, tea, pakodas, breads, eggs, textiles, clothing, footwear, artisan products, books/stationery, etc. are among the products they supply.
The offerings include laundry services, cobblers, pan shops, and barbershops. The COVID-19 outbreak and ensuing lockdowns have had a negative influence on street sellers' livelihoods. They often operate with a modest capital basis, which they may have used during the lockdown. Therefore, it is necessary to give street vendors loans for working capital so they can resume their operations.
Objectives:
The programme is a ‘’Central Sector Program’’, which means that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MOHUA) entirely funds it. Its goals are to:
(i) Make working capital loans up to Rs.10,000
(ii) Encourage timely repayment
(iii) Reward digital transactions.
The programme will aid in formalizing street vendors in order to achieve the aforementioned goals and will provide new opportunities for the industry to advance economically.
States And UTS That Qualify:
Only those States and UTs that have published their rules and programme under the 2014 Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act are eligible for the programme. However, participants from Meghalaya, which has its own State Street Vendors Act, are allowed.
Beneficiaries' Eligibility Requirements:
All street sellers operating in urban areas are eligible for the Scheme. The following criteria will be used to determine whether vendors are eligible:
(i) Street vendors that have an Identity Card or Certificate of Vending issued from the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
(ii) The survey-identified vendors who have not yet received a certificate of vending or an identity card.
• Such vendors would receive a provisional Certificate of Vending using an IT-based platform. The permanent Certificate of Vending and Identification Card should be issued to such vendors by ULBs immediately within a month.
(iii) Street Vendors who were not included in the ULB led identification survey or who began selling after the survey was finished and have received a Letter of Recommendation (LoR) from the ULB / Town Vending Committee.
(iv) Vendors who are located in nearby developments, peri-urban areas, or rural areas and who have received a Letter of Recommendation (LoR) from the ULB or TVC to that effect.
Identification of Beneficiaries Left Out of The Survey or Belonging To The Surrounding Rural Areas While Identifying The Vendors Belonging To Category (III) And (IV), The ULB/ TVC May Consider Any of The Following Documents To Issue Letters of Recommendation:
(i) The vendor list created by specific States or UTs for one-time support during the lockdown; OR
(ii) A system generated request sent to ULBs/ TVCs for issue of LoR based on the recommendation of the Lender after verifying the credentials of the applicant, OR (iii) The membership details with the vendors associations including National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI)/ National Hawkers Federation (NHF)/ Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) etc. OR
(iv) The documents in possession of the vendor buttressing his claim of vending, OR
(v) Report of local enquiry conducted by ULB/ TVC involving Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs) etc. ULB shall complete the verification and issuance of LoR within 15 days of the submission of application.
Further, ULBs may adopt any other alternate way for identifying such vendors with a view to ensure that all the eligible vendors are positively covered.
Vendors that returned to their home countries as a result of COVID-19, some of the people who had been identified, surveyed, or selling goods in metropolitan areas had already fled for their home countries before or during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. After things return to normal, these vendors are likely to return and continue operations.
These vendors will be qualified for the loan upon their return in accordance with the eligibility requirements for identifying beneficiaries specified above whether they are from rural or peri-urban areas or city dwellers.
Public Domain Data:
The website of the Ministry, State Government, ULBs, and Web Portal created for this purpose will make the State, UT, and ULB by ULB list of identified street sellers available.
Brief Product Information:
Street vendors in urban areas will be able to apply for Working Capital (WC) loans up to Rs.10, 000 with a one-year term and monthly payments. The lending institutions will not require any collateral in exchange for this loan. Vendors will be qualified for the following cycle of working capital loans with an increased limit upon timely or early payback. Vendors who accept payment before the agreed-upon date won't be penalized for doing so.
Interest Rate:
The rates will be in accordance with Scheduled Commercial Banks', Regional Rural Banks', Small Finance Banks', Cooperative Banks', and SHG Banks' current interest rates. Interest rates for NBFCs, NBFC-MFIs, etc. will be in accordance with RBI rules for the appropriate lender category. Interest rates under the programme would be applicable in accordance with the current RBI guidelines for NBFC-MFIs for MFIs (other lender categories not covered by the RBI rules).
Interest Subsidy:
The vendors who apply for loans through the programme are qualified for an interest subsidy of 7%. The borrower's account will receive the interest subsidy payment on a quarterly basis. Each financial year, lenders must submit quarterly claims for interest subsidies for the quarters ending on June 30, September 30, December 31, and March 31. Only borrowers' accounts that are Standard (i.e., non-NPA in accordance with the current RBI rules) on the relevant claim dates will be taken into consideration for subsidies, and only for the months in which the account has remained Standard in the relevant quarter.
Up until March 31, 2022, the interest subsidy is available. Up until that time, the incentive will be provided on all initial and subsequent increased loans. The allowable amount of the subsidy will be credited all at once in the event of an early payment.
Vendors' Promotion of Online Transactions:
Through a cash-back mechanism, the programme will encourage sellers to conduct digital transactions.