Financial services (DFS) secretary Vivek Joshi on Thursday asked chiefs of public sector banks (PSBs) to expeditiously clear the sanction or disbursement under PM SVANidhi scheme for street vendors.
“He urged banks to devise the strategy and step up the efforts to increase the digital onboarding of street vendors and scale up their digital payments,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
Under the scheme, 5.34 million applications have been sanctioned while 5.05 million applications have been disbursed amounting to `6,472 crore as of July 19, 2023.
The DFS requested banks to organise workshops, seminars, financial literacy program to create awareness among the street vendors about the various features of PM SVANidhi scheme and felicitate street vendors on the basis of performance in digital transactions.
Separately, Joshi also chaired a review meeting with PSB heads on financial inclusion schemes. He reviewed the progress under various social security schemes including Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), and Stand Up India.
The issues related to digital transactions were discussed in the meeting with special focus on promotion of digital payments. Aspirational Blocks Programme (ABP) was also discussed.
The official also reviewed the status of the decisions of consultative committee meeting with regard to holding of special District Level Review Committee (DLRC) to prepare roadmap to cover the unbanked adults and credit outreach campaign in credit deficient districts.