Credit line for street vendors may've few takers; half of 10 mn not covered

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement of a credit line of Rs 10,000 to 5 million street vendors as part of her stimulus package may find few takers.

The reason: A majority of street vendors, due to closure of their business, do not have the liquidity to pay back a loan. The package, according to estimates by street vendors’ associations, in any case will cover only half of the 10 million vendors across the country.

Says Sangeeta Singh of the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), which has over 300,000 street vendors as its members: “What we had suggested