PM SVANidhi — Street Vendors

India's street vendors — people selling food, clothes, vegetables and household goods from carts and pavements — were invisible to the formal banking system. With no collateral, no documented income and often no fixed address, they borrowed from daily-interest moneylenders at rates that consumed most of their margin. The COVID lockdown badly hit their businesses and working capital.

PM SVANidhi launched in June 2020 as a micro-credit lifeline. Over 1.12 crore loans have since been disbursed to more than 75.5 lakh vendors (May 2026) — for nearly 95% of them, their first formal credit. Announced in Budget 2025-26 and approved by the Cabinet in August 2025, a restructuring raised loan limits, added a UPI-linked credit card of up to ₹30,000 and extended lending to March 2030.

Credit is tiered and collateral-free: a first loan of ₹15,000, then ₹25,000, then ₹50,000 (since 2025), each unlocked by repaying the last. A 7% interest subsidy is credited to the account, and cashback of up to ₹1,600 rewards digital transactions — which is how lakhs of vendors came onto UPI and began building a transaction history. Urban local bodies handle identification and vending certificates.

The design point is not the loan size but the credit history. A vendor with a repayment record and a digital transaction trail becomes bankable for the first time — able to borrow again, larger and cheaper, from an ordinary bank rather than a moneylender. The Cabinet has said it also gave vendors a sense of identity and formal recognition.

1.12 crore+ loans disbursed to more than 75.5 lakh street vendors since June 2020 (May 2026). Tiered credit: ₹15,000 → ₹25,000 → ₹50,000, collateral-free. 7% interest subsidy; up to ₹1,600 cashback on digital payments. UPI-linked credit card of up to ₹30,000 (2025). Sources: Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, PIB.