Government to focus on micro credit facility for street vendors in 2023: IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw (File Image: ANI)

The government will enhance its focus on providing micro-credit facility in the range of Rs 3,000-5,000 to street vendors in 2023, with the help of digital technologies, Union IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday.

While speaking at Digital India Awards, Vaishnaw said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has allocated around Rs 52,000 crore for taking 4G and 5G services across all nooks and corners of the country for digitally connecting every citizen.

"In 2023 there will be a big focus on providing credit facilities to street vendors in a simplified manner to meet small credit requirements of Rs 3,000-5,000," Vaishnaw said.

The minister said that the country will see the roll out of indigenously developed 4G and 5G technologies this year.

He said that very soon the country will witness the setting up of an electronic chip manufacturing plant in the country in line with PM Modi's vision to make India self-reliant in the field of technology.

The PM Street Vendor's Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (SVANidhi) Scheme was launched in June 2020 as a Micro-Credit facility which aims to empower street vendors to recover losses incurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through PM SVANidhi, affordable collateral-free loans are given to street vendors.