Bhubaneswar: The Centre has sanctioned Rs 8.2 crore as collateral free loans to street vendors in Odisha under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s Amta Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme (PM SVANidhi). Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, tweeted the information, Wednesday.
There are 63,222 street vendors in Odisha. Out of them, 23,550 vendors have applied for affordable working capital loans. The central government has sanctioned the loans for all vendors who applied.
Odisha has been among the top 10 states to benefit from the PM SVANidhi scheme. The street vendors of Sambalpur, Cuttack, Berhampur, Balasore and other towns in Odisha have already been provided collateral free loans of up to Rs 10,000.
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The PM SVANidhi scheme was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, June 1, 2020. It aims to provide affordable working capital loans to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been affected due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The scheme is projected to help over 50 lakh vendors who would be eligible to avail a working capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000. They will be allowed to repay the amount in 12 monthly installments. If someone is able to repay the loan earlier, an interest subsidy of seven per cent per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries every quarter. Also there will not be any penalty on the early repayment of loans.
PNN
