The Tiruppur City Corporation has set a target to reach out to about 12,000 roadside vendors for extending credit under the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme of providing collatoral-free loans, which was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in June, 2023.
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The scheme was devised for street vendors who were hit by the COVID- 19 pandemic to restart their businesses.
The first camp conducted at the Corporation office witnessed about 1,000 prospective beneficiaries applying for the credit facility.
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Officials said the scheme envisaged providing working capital loan up to ₹ 10,000 without any guarantee for a period of one year. There is the facility of second instalment of ₹ 20,000 loan and ₹ 50,000 loan on timely repayment.
According to official sources, the City Corporation planned to conduct a series of camps to reach the target.
During one such camp conducted on Wednesday, 184 applications were received. So far, close to 4,000 prospective beneficiaries have been identified.
The services of women self-help groups were being used to identify the beneficiaries. Information , education and communication (IEC) material in local languages were provided by the Central Government for outreach to the vendors.
The Corporation facilitates the online application process, official sources said. Vendors across the city are being sensitised to the scheme that provides for incentivising regular repayment through interest subsidy at the rate of 7 % per annum, and incentivising digital transactions through cashback up to ₹ 1,200 per year.