Rs.5000 cr credit facility for street vendors; interest benefit for MUDRA loanees: FM

In a huge relief for street vendors on Thursday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the decision of the Centre to launch a special scheme within a month to facilitate easy credit access for the former. Maintaining that there was an adverse impact on their livelihoods due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sitharaman noted that 50 lakh street vendors would benefit as a result of liquidity of Rs.5000 crore being provided by the Union government. She added that enhanced working capital limit would be made available for good repayment behaviour. 

Read: Free Grains For 2 Months; One Nation, One Ration Card: FM's Relief Package For Migrants

Centre offers interest subvention for MUDRA loanees

Meanwhile, Sitharaman also unveiled measures for the small businesses having MUDRA-Shishu loans. According to Sitharaman, the novel coronavirus crisis has impacted the ability of these businesses to pay EMIs. While acknowledging that loan moratorium has already been granted by the Reserve Bank of India, she declared that the Union government would provide interest subvention of 2% for prompt payees for a period of two months. This translates to a benefit of Rs.1,500 crore for the MUDRA-Shishu loanees. Currently, the total portfolio of MUDRA-Shishu loans is Rs.1.62 lakh crore.

Read: Centre Announces 9 Steps To Benefit Migrants, Farmers, Vendors In Second Economic Tranche

During the press briefing, the Union Finance Minister disclosed that migrants who do not have a ration card shall be entitled to free 5 kg of grains per person and 1 kg of chana per family for two months. Rs.3,500 crore will be spent on this initiative lending relief to nearly 8 crore migrants. Moreover, 'One Nation One Ration Card shall be implemented by August 2020.

Additionally, NABARD will extend additional refinance support of Rs.30,000 crore for crop loan requirement of rural cooperative banks and Regional Rural Banks benefiting 3 crore small and marginal farmers. Also, a special drive would be undertaken to provide concessional credit to PM Kisan Yojana beneficiaries through the Kisan Credit Cards. 

Read: Coronavirus Live Updates: Cases At 78,003; Govt Rolls Out 9 Measures For Migrants, Farmers

Read: Tamil Nadu: Municipal Commissioner Removed After Harassing Fruit Vendors, Holding Photo-op