PM SVANidhi scheme aims to provide collateral-free working capital loans of up to INR10,000/- with a one-year repayment period to approximately 50 lakh street vendors in order to help them restart their businesses in urban areas, including surrounding peri-urban/rural areas.
The loans were made available through programmes such as the Pradhan Mantri Svanidhi Yojana, Mudra Yojana, and Pashupalak Kisan Credit Card. Others, according to officials, will receive their loan amounts throughout the day. "During the credit outreach programme in Kota, Rajasthan,@nsitharaman hands over more than 33,000 loan sanction letters totaling more than Rs 1,550 crore under various central government schemes," the Finance Minister's office said in a tweet.
Sitharaman said at an event at Dusshera Ground here that the prime minister himself has guaranteed loans under the Pradhan Mantri Svanidhi Yojana, so no documents are required for guarantee. Loans totaling at least Rs 68 crore will be distributed to cattle rearers (Pashupalaks), she added. Many others are being approved for credit for various business and agricultural purposes, she said.
The finance minister also urged women to form Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in their communities and apply for bank loans to build storage and processing facilities in their villages.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who is also the MP for Kota-Bundi, has urged street vendors, small-scale entrepreneurs, and cattle rearers to take advantage of government loans to expand their businesses.
"Our country's engine is India's poorest man... In the future, India will lead in economic growth because of street vendors, women, cattle rearers, and so on," Birla said, adding, "we want to build a new economic structure (aarthik tantra) and make the poorest the strongest."
Earlier in the morning, the finance minister met with coaching students at Allen Career Institute in the city's Jawahar Nagar neighbourhood.
