Street vendors to get loans of up to ₹10K
NEW DELHI: Crisis-hit street vendors will get working capital loans of up to ~10,000 to restart business under a scheme the government will roll out in a month, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Announcing steps to ease the pain of loss of livelihoods, Sitharaman said street vendors whose livelihoods were affected on account of the lockdown can use this facility to restart their business.
“Within a month, the government will announce a scheme that will facilitate easy access to credit for street vendors. There are 50 lakh street vendors as per one estimate from states. They can buy products to sell. They will be taken care of,” she said.
For the working capital scheme, “We expect a liquidity of ~5000 crores to be made by government,” the finance minister said.
An official presentation on the relief measures announced by Sitharaman said digital payments will be incentivised through monetary rewards and enhanced working capital credit would also be made available for good repayment behaviour.
“The easy credit facility of ~5000 crore to all street vendors and interest subvention support of 2% under Mudra-Shishu loans of ~50,000 or less for next 12 months will help vendors and businesses to resume their activities post lockdown,” said D.K. Aggarwal, president of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an industry body.
The finance minister on Thursday also said that the government will offer 2% interest rate subvention for a period of 12 months to prompt loan payees under the MUDRA-Shishu loans scheme.
The relief measures come in the wake of a humanitarian crisis that saw large-scale return of migrant workers from urban centres to villages unseen in recent times.
The Modi administration has so far announced some parts of its promised ~20 trillion package pertaining to small businesses, migrant workers, farmers, street vendors and tribal community members in an attempt to ease the pain of the lockdown while gradually opening up the economy.
The measures are part of a humanitarian relief while the concerns of big industries struggling with loss of business for more than a month and a half are expected to be addressed in the coming days.
Modi had on Tuesday said the economy will gather steam in the coming days in the fourth phase of the lockdown.
The third phase of the lockdown ends on Sunday. For exiting the lockdown, the Centre has sought views from states by Friday.