Chief Minister N. Biren Singh distributed loans to a total of 817 vendors of different districts to support them in resuming their vending activities which have been affected by the lockdown. 368 street vendors were benefitted under the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi – PM SVANidhi and 449 regular licensed vendors including 14 from hill districts were provided assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) – SHISHU.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that Manipur is comparatively better in COVID-19 situation when compared with other States. It was due to the timely decision taken by women vendors to close the three Ima Keithels, he observed. N. Biren Singh said that he visited Khwairamband Ima Keithel on March 19, 2020, and discussed with women vendors about the gravity of the situation, upon which they readily agreed to close all the three Ima Keithels from the next day.

N. Biren Singh said that the Government understands the financial difficulties which the vendors have been facing since the past five months. As such, the Government has decided to extend financial help in the form of loans to them under two different Government schemes in consultation with different banks so that they may start their livelihood anew, he added.

The Chief Minister further said that loans would be provided to a total of around 20,000 vendors from different parts of the State.

N. Biren Singh further said that he had requested the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to allow utilization of funds from the Ministry in hill district headquarters as well.

PM SVANidhi was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on June 15, 2020. It is a special micro credit scheme for providing affordable working capital loan to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been affected due to COVID-19 lockdown. The scheme is valid until March 2022. Under this scheme, the street vendors, who were vending within the limits of an urban local body as on 24th March 2020, can avail working capital loan of up to 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments within the tenure of one year. On timely and early repayment of the loan, an Interest subsidy @ 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on a quarterly basis. The scheme promotes digital transactions through cashback incentives up to an amount of Rs. 7100 per month. The vendors can avail the facility of escalation of the credit limit on timely/early repayment of loan.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) – SHISHU was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 8, 2015, for providing loans to non-farm small micro enterprises. The amount of loan disbursed ranges from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 1,50,000.

Deputy Chief Minister Y. Joykumar, Health Minister  L. Jayantakumar, CAF & PD Minister Karam Shyam, Public Health Engineering Minister L. Dikho, Tribal Affairs and Hills Minister N. Kayisii, Agricultural Minister V. Hangkhanlian, Forest and Environment Minister Awangbow Newmai and MLAs of different Assembly Constituencies also attended the function.