Dr. Vivek Joshi, Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, chaired a review meeting on Financial Inclusion schemes including PM SVANidhi with Heads of Public Sector Banks here today.

During the meeting, the progress and performance of the PM SVANidhi scheme was reviewed. Dr. Joshi exhorted the banks to expeditiously clear the sanction/ disbursement pendency of applications. He further urged banks to devise the strategy and step up the efforts to increase the digital onboarding of street vendors and scale up their digital payments.

Update on  PM SVANidhi scheme

PM SVANidhi scheme envisages empowerment of street vendors through hassle free access to affordable credit and their digital onboarding for their economic development.

The PM SVANidhi Scheme continues to make significant strides in providing credit support to street vendors. The scheme performance is regularly monitored jointly by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) & DFS for ensuring its effective implementation across the country. As of 19^th July 2023, 53.41 lakh applications have been sanctioned while 50.52 lakh applications have been disbursed amounting to Rs. 6,472 crore.

In May 2023, a special campaign was organised by banks and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). A total of 6,808 camps were held during the campaign period. A total number of 1,02,358 applications were sanctioned and 1,01,354 applications were disbursed during the campaign. Additionally, 1,06,432 vendors were digitally onboarded during the campaign.

DFS requested banks to organise workshops, seminars, financial literacy program to create awareness among the street vendors about the various features of PM SVANidhi scheme and felicitate street vendors on the basis of performance in digital transactions.

PM SVANidhi scheme digital onboarding urged: banks to expedite loan sanctions and scale digital payments for vendors Review and implementation oversight of the PM SVANidhi scheme focused on accelerating sanction and disbursement of microloans to street vendors and expanding their digital payment adoption. The Department urged public sector banks to clear pending sanction/disbursement applications expeditiously, increase digital onboarding, and organise outreach such as workshops and financial literacy programs to raise vendor awareness and recognise digital transaction performance.