More than 9,000 street food vendors have joined food delivery platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato as part of a Central scheme, making a wider market accessible to them. The total sales by these food vendors on these platforms till January 9, 2023, stood at ₹21.93 crore.
Through such partnerships through the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme, a wider market has been made accessible to both vendors and consumers, Union Minister for Urban Affairs Hardip Singh Puri said.
“The scheme has received an enormously positive response from street vendors across the country, and has become one of the fastest growing micro-credit schemes of the Government of India,” he said, adding that in the past two years, more than 40.07 lakh loans worth ₹4,606.36 crore to 45.32 lakh has been disbursed to beneficiaries under the PM SVANidhi.
“In line with the Digital India vision, PM SVANidhi has also provided a platform for financial inclusion by facilitating the street vendors to carry out digital transactions. I am glad to say that so far, street vendors have recorded 37.70 crore digital transactions to the tune of more than ₹45,000 crore. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has released ₹23.02 crore as cashback to the beneficiaries to promote the use of digital transactions,” the Minister added.
Apart from providing easy access to loans, the scheme has also provided a Parichay Board (identity board) for street vendors to provide them with a sense of identity and dignity in their work, he said at the inauguration of the 12th edition of the National Street Food Festival, organized by the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI).
The PM SVANidhi scheme was launched in June 2020 as a micro-credit facility aiming to empower street vendors to recover losses incurred due to the pandemic. The scheme intends to facilitate collateral free working capital loans of up to ₹10,000 for one-year tenure, to approximately 50 lakh street vendors, to help resume their businesses in the urban areas.