Micro-Credit for Micro-Entrepreneurs: A Study on PM Street Vendor’s Loan with Special Reference to Mizoram State

Urban street vendors hold a very important part of the urban economy which plays a pivotal role in delivering availability of essential commodities at affordable price to the city dwellers at their door step. The COVID-19 nationwide lockdowns have seriously impacted the livelihoods of street vendors across the countries. In connection with this, on 1 June 2020, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India launched a Central Sector Scheme called the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) to facilitate provision of micro-credit for working capital to street vendors, through commercial banks in India for facilitating to recover their livelihoods. The present study tries to examine the impact of micro-credit on their livelihoods, their access to formal credit and financial inclusion as well as linkages to social security schemes among urban street vendors. An in-depth analysis has been made to identify the challenges and prospects of PM SVANidhi-street vendors’ loan with special reference to Mizoram state. Forty street vendors have been randomly selected for purposive sampling in the study from six district capital, viz. Aizawl, Lunglei, Mamit, Serchhip, Champhai and Kolasib (except newly created district and two backward districts Lawngtlai and Siaha) where the scheme is being implemented by the nodal department. Primary and secondary date have been collected which was analysed with relevant statistical tools.