NEW DELHI: At least 38,000 loan applications from street vendors were received across the country on Saturday and highly subsidised loans of Rs 10,000 each was disbursed to nearly 29,000 beneficiaries, which is the highest ever in a single day since the scheme was launched.
The government has launched a special drive to hold special weekly camps across districts and municipal areas to provide these loans to 30 lakh beneficiaries under the PM Street vendors AtmaNirbhar (PM SVAnidhi) scheme by March end. “We had the first such camps on Saturday and two more will be held in March to sanction and disburse all pending applications. We are confident of achieving the target,” said an official.
Till Sunday, 38.18 lakh street vendors had submitted their applications for the PM SVAnidhi scheme and loans for 21.77 lakh applicants were sanctioned. So far 16.16 lakh beneficiaries have got the loan amount.
Union housing and urban affairs secretary D S Mishra had last week written to banks and all state governments to mobilise eligible street vendors and complete all formalities.