About the scheme

• It was launched on June 1, 2020, by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for providing affordable Working Capital loans to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been adversely affected due to Covid-19 lockdown.
• Under the Scheme, vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments in the tenure of one year. The loans would be without collateral.
• If the vendor repays the instalments in time or earlier, they will develop his credible credit score that makes him eligible for a higher amount of term loan to 20 thousand rupees and so on. 
• On timely/ early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy @ 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer on quarterly basis. 
• There will be no penalty on early repayment of loan. The scheme promotes digital transactions through cash back incentives up to an amount of Rs. 100 per month. 
• The scheme targets to benefit over 50 lakh street vendors. The duration of the scheme is till March 2022. 
• SIDBI will implement the PM SVANidhi Scheme.
• The lending institutions under the Scheme include Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Small Finance Banks, Cooperative Banks, NBFCs, Microfinance institutions and Self Help Group banks. 

Why in News?

• The state level implementation of the PM Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme was reviewed recently.

SIDBI

• Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) set up in 1990 under an Act of Indian Parliament.
• SIDBI acts as the principal financial institution for promotion, financing and development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector as well as for coordination of functions of institutions engaged in similar activities.
• The functions of SIDBI include financing small scale industrial units, providing seed capital to startups, providing technical assistance, promoting cleaner production and energy efficiency.
• The Shares of SIDBI are held by the Government of India and twenty- nine other institutions / public sector banks / insurance companies owned or controlled by the Central Government.
• SIDBI also maintains the UdyamiMitra portal with the objective to help the MSMEs with easy and secure access to financial and non-financial services. This is a one of a kind portal where MSME loan seekers can connect virtually to Lenders and Handholding agencies.