RBI to include street vendors as beneficiaries in its digital transactions scheme

Street vendors identified as part of the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi Scheme) in tier-1 and tier-2 centres will now be included as beneficiaries under the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). As hitherto, street vendors in tier-3 to tier-6 centres will continue to be covered under the scheme, RBI said in a statement.

The Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) scheme, with a corpus of Rs 345 crore, envisages creating 30 lakh new touch points every year for digital payments in tier-3 to tier-6 centres. The scheme, operationalised in January this year, has now been extended to select street vendors in tier 1 and 2 centres.

Launched in June 2020, the PM Street Vendor’s AatmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme is aimed at helping street vendors impacted by the coronavirus pandemic to resume their livelihood activities. It facilitates collateral-free working capital loans of up to Rs 10,000 of one-year tenure to approximately 50 lakh street vendors.

Further, the scheme seeks to open up new opportunities for street vendors to move up the economic ladder. The vendors availing loan under the scheme are eligible to get an interest subsidy of 7 per cent.

Out of the total 44,95,401 first term loan applications received by banks from street vendors, the number of loans sanctioned and disbursed stood at 26,89,448 and 24,40,910, respectively, as per latest reports of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs data.

Further, out of the total 5,432 second term loan applications received by banks from street vendors, the number of loans sanctioned and disbursed stood at 2,692 and 1,122, respectively.

In a directive issued by the central bank on Thursday, it was informed that the PIDF scheme will also include street vendors, which have been identified under Prime Minister’s Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi scheme) in tier-1 and tier-2 cities.