The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc in the world and put the world economies at a standstill. In addition to the industrial units of the country and other businesses in the organized sector, the unorganized sector suffered huge economic losses during this pandemic.

According to an India spend report, there are an estimated 10 million street vendors in India, who bring in a revenue of roughly ₹ 80 crore per day. It also mentions that every street vendor supports an average of three others as employees, partners or workers. These street vendors are largely concentrated in urban and peri-urban areas, with most of them being migrants working a typical daily schedule of 10-12 hours.

Taking cognisance of the distress faced especially by these street vendors, the Modi government launched the well-planned “Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi,” or the PM SVANidhi Scheme, to empower street vendors. The scheme was stacked under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs and aimed to grant the street vendors “collateral-free loans” for holistic development and economic upliftment. The central government, under the scheme, extends a working capital loan of up to ₹10,000/- for a tenure of one year to help the street vendors resume their businesses in the urban areas, including surrounding peri-urban/rural areas.

The government has also built into the scheme the concept of establishing a credit score for the vendors as well as creating a digital record of their socio-economic status so that they can avail of Central government schemes in the long run. This would also aim to kickstart the formalization process for the informal sector, providing them with a safety net, should such a catastrophe knock at their doors again.

It has been observed that due to a limited or lack of access to the banking sector, these vendors often end up borrowing money from private lenders, who charge them sky-high interest against collateral, leading them down the spiral of poverty. The PM SVANidhi Yojana brings in a huge respite in this regard as it provides collateral-free loans, at an interest rate below 12 per cent. If the vendors repay the loan within the stipulated timeframe, then they become eligible for more loans to expand their businesses, which is an added advantage of this scheme. Needless to say, this scheme has created an enhanced interest among the street vendor community, as it puts them on the path of self-employment with a safety net and assures poverty alleviation in the long run.

So far, the PM SVANidhi scheme, which is a part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat package, has received 31,64,367 applications from across the country. Of the total applications, 16,77,027 have been sanctioned and 12,17,507 have been disbursed. The government has made the loans accessible through a considerably large network of service providers, like the scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks, small finance banks, co-operative banks, NBFCs, MFIs and SHG banking institutions.

While this scheme, launched on 1 June 2020, has created an interest in its targeted audience, there is much more to be done to bring more beneficiaries with the ambit of the scheme, as the scheme will come to an end by March 2022. Hence, concerted efforts by all the states are required to ensure that the benefit of the scheme gets transferred to all the beneficiaries at the earliest.

Few of the states have been implementing this scheme on a war-footing, just like they have been ranking high on the COVID-19 vaccination roster, as well. For the year 2021-22, the central government had given a target of 4,05,000 street vendors to the Madhya Pradesh government to bring within the ambit of the scheme. So far, the state government has successfully been able to sanction and disburse collateral-free loans of ₹ 10,000 to more than 4,29,737 street vendors. This signifies an achievement rate of 106.11 per cent by the Shivraj government for the Pradhan Mantri SVANidhi Yojana. Madhya Pradesh is closely followed by states like Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka in the country in the implementation of PM SVANidhi Yojana.

The Madhya Pradesh government is trailblazing by systematically implementing the scheme and introducing innovative measures to ensure easy access and speedy uptake of the scheme for the eligible vendors. The state government has reduced the cost of the stamp duty from ₹2,500 to ₹25 for processing the documents that need to be deposited in the bank – a reduction by a whopping 100 times. The state government has also slashed the lengthy process – saving considerable time and avoiding procedural confusion for the eligible vendors – by reducing the number of documents required to be submitted by the beneficiaries to the bank for availing loan, from 12 to 2 documents. Moreover, to promote digital transactions among the street vendors in the state, the state government has kickstarted a training campaign for them. As part of this campaign, over 1,27,000 street vendors have undertaken the training, so far.

These proactive steps taken by the Shivraj government is ensuring good governance right down to the ground level. This is also a befitting homage to the former Prime Minister Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who emerged as the torch-bearer of good governance and propagated the aspects of implementing a strategic vision, enhancing transparency and ensuring government accountability, which the Shivraj government seems to be delivering successfully.