PM SVANidhi scheme: Share of minority applicants and beneficiaries down

OBCs, too, saw big drop in applicant, beneficiary share

The share of minority community applicants and recipients has shrunk under a government scheme for providing loans to street vendors. The decline comes even as application approvals under the scheme hit a high in 2023-24.

Minorities include Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and others. The government launched the Prime Minister Street Vendor's Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) in June 2020 to provide collateral free loans to eligible urban street vendors during the pandemic and has disbursed over Rs 10,000 crore. The micro credit scheme disburses loans in three installments subject to repayment of the previous loan amount. The first loan installment begins at