‘Money helped me revive my fruit business’

AGRA : Thrilled over getting a chance to directly interact with PM Narendra Modi, Preeti, a fruit vendor of Agra and a beneficiary of PM Street Vendors’ Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme, thanked Modi for Rs 10,000 loan she got under the scheme.

Stationed at Shilpgram near the Taj Mahal, Preeti began her conversation with a ‘Namaste’ to the PM who asked her as to how she was benefited.

“Like other countrymen, we were totally ruined during the lockdown but money through ‘Jan Dhan’ account and food grains through PDS scheme helped me support my physically-challenged husband and three kids. Then I came to know about PM SVANidhi scheme. The money that I got under the scheme helped me revive my fruit business. You came as a saviour to me,” Preeti told Modi who was speaking online to the beneficiaries of the scheme in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.

When the PM said her sale must have increased during the just-concluded Navratri festival, Preeti replied in the affirmative and added that she had already paid the first instalment of the loan. On if she had PayTM facility at her fruit vend, a confident Preeti told the PM that she had it and it helped her know if the payment was actually made by customers. Modi then told Preeti about the benefits of digital payment.