NEW DELHI: Main Bhi Digital 3.0 – a special campaign for digital inclusion of street vendors, has been launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), in collaboration with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The scheme is part of the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors’ AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme and will be implemented across 223 cities in the country. It was launched at a virtual event by Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA; and Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, MeitY.
BharatPe, Mswipe, PhonePe, Paytm and Aceware are also taking part in this drive to issue Unified Payment Interface (UPI) IDs and QR code to street vendors and also provide them digital training. They will handhold the street vendors to assist them in adoption of digital transactions and behavioural change.
According to MoHUA, 45.5 lakh applications have already been received under PM SVANidhi and 27.2 lakh loans have been sanctioned with the disbursement of 24.6 lakh loans. The total amount disbursed so far is Rs 2,444 crore and more than 70,000 street vendors have also repaid their first loan premium.