Five years back, a young widow with a three months old baby came to meet me. She was a hawker and sold cheap plastic household items by the roadside. She lost her husband when she was in last months of pregnancy. She was raising her newborn, all by herself along with facing her family’s lukewarm conduct, her life was full of struggle.
During Pandemic of COVID 19, when the nation faced lockdown her business had come to standstill and she had no choice but to live off her meagre savings.
The Government provided her with ration but she had to depend on her savings for raising the toddler on her own. After four months, when lockdown was lifted, she had to restart her business but the pandemic had swallowed her entire savings and she was left with none to invest in stock.
Her dilemma and efforts to rise again after calamity was answered positively by the Central Government.
Hon. Prime Minister creates an immediate connect with common man’s issues. Be it providing aid to farmers, MSMEs, small and medium scale businesses and industries or helping out the homemakers in running the household. Narendra Modiji led Government provided strong support to come out of the damage faced due to the pandemic. Hon. Prime Minister was keen on getting the mapping of Street Vendors and Hawkers done so that no one remained out of the Welfare schemes of the Modi Government.
Hence, on June 2nd 2020, Modi Government launched Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PMSVNidhi) under the Ministry of Housing & Urban Development.
PMSVNidhi extends loan of Rs. 10000/- for one year as working capital to restart their business, hit by the lockdown post COVID 19.
The target is to reach out to around 5 million (50 Lakhs Street Vendors) across the nation and bring them in the mainstream of welfare governance of NDA Government.
The scheme is valid until March 2022.
Such a huge population of our nation is earning livelihood doing marginal but significant business with no permanent establishment. No planned data of such roadside hawkers or street vendors was created or maintained by any of the previous Governments. Unfortunately, the previous Governments considered these small businesses insignificant and hence, neither their earning nor their transactions were formalised. This kept this huge section of people out of banking services and its benefits till now.
Visionary Prime Minister wanted to lift these entrepreneurs from their inconsequential state and provide them with basic economic infrastructure to climb the growth ladder.
Through implementation of PMSVNidhi, both the targets will be achieved.
In addition, it legitimises the genuine Street Vendors who did not have valid identity cards and could not receive benefits of other Government schemes till now, as they are included in the formalised list.
With this inclusion in the database, they have become eligible for various government schemes.
Under PMSVNidhi Yojna, Beneficiaries include all those vendors selling their goods by roadside in non-permanent establishments.
The beneficiaries include Vegetable, Fruits, Eggs and other food item sellers, Beverages & Fast food item Vendors, Clothes, Books, Handicraft as well as other decorative household and utility item vendor and Washerman, Ironman, Cobbler, Tailor, ironsmith, Paan/Cigarette Seller or any other repairing service provider.
The loan of 10,000/- is given to the beneficiary which is to be paid off within one year. The beneficiary earns the additional benefit of 7% interest subsidy, if the said amount is paid off within stipulated time and this would be additionally transferred in their bank account.
The application can be done Online or Offline at Nagarpalika or Common Service Center.
There are 3.8 Lakh CSCs across the nation.
To apply Online on Government’s official Website visit http://pmsvanidhi.mohua.gov.in/ .
On the first page, “Planning to apply for loan” option would be visible.
After downloading the form, fill in with necessary documents.
Being Bharatiya citizen is a mandatory condition for the applicant.
This Yojna is applicable for the trivial road side Vendors only. Only the vendors engaged in working as Street Vendors on or before 24th March 2020 are entitled to receive this benefit.
The applicant requires to present his Aadhar Card linked with his mobile number, Voter ID card/Driving License/MANREGA Card, PAN Card, Bank account PassBook, and passport size photograph.
The PMSVANidhi Loan can be obtained from Small Finance Bank, Micro Finance Institution & SHG Bank, Non-Banking Finance company, CO-operative Banks, Scheduled Commerce Banks as well as Rural Bank. From June to December 2020, 29,54,961 applications are acquired under this scheme.
Out of which, 15,80,327 loans have been sanctioned.
And
10,75,978 loans have been disbursed.
PMSVANidhi is incentivising digital transactions by street vendors. They will soon be given QR codes to receive payment through the government ‘s BHIM UPI app. They are given cash back for digital transactions too. This creates formal transaction history in the bank and it builds their creditworthiness for the future.
It is heartwarming to witness how these marginal entrepreneurs climb on the ladder of progress with little support from the Government.
Arvind ji from Varanasi sold Momos by roadside. During the lockdown of COVID 19, his entire business had stopped.
He was in a grave predicament. The question was, how to resurrect his business as his savings had come to nil.
At that time he got a timely help under PMSVANidhi scheme and with a simple process he received the fund of Rs.10,000/- in his Union Bank account.
Now, he has tied up with Swiggy to send home deliveries and has created strict rules for his visiting customers. He gives one Momo free if the customer maintains COVID rules of wearing a mask, Maintaining Social distancing and making digital payment.
Vijaybahadurji ran a Bhelpuri house named Khushiram ki Bhelpuri in Lukhnow, Uttar Pradesh. He took the PMSVANidhi loan and utilised the fund in buying necessary raw material. His speciality Lohiya Chana is once again the important snack in Varanasi.
Dalchand Sanchi from Raisan, Madhya Pradesh is a vegetable seller in the Sabji Mandi of Raisan. He had no money left to re-start his business post lockdown. The PMSVANidhi Loan came to his rescue and he used this fund in stocking up vegetables till money flow normalised.
The previous governments for past 60+ years did next to nothing for the nation’s growth journey. Narendra Modi ji led Government since 2014, has been agile in providing opportunities, support and benefits to every Bharatiya citizen.
The underprivileged class is also not left out of the Nation Building and their contribution plays an important role in bringing a new economic revolution in Bharat.