Chief General Manager of State Bank of India (Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh) Umesh Pandey met Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today. Chief Minister Chouhan urged for prompt approval of the loan schemes implemented for street vendors.
Specifically, the Swanidhi Scheme, also known as the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi, was discussed in detail. Along with this, talks were also held about the approval of the Chief Minister Rural Street Vendor Scheme and the implementation of the scheme. Chief Minister Chouhan said that the status of disbursement of amount under the scheme will be reviewed in detail in the next meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee.
Chouhan said that this is a scheme for the welfare of the poor. Small traders, who do small-scale trade in cities and villages on roadside by setting up kiosk or by handcart, should be given easy loan assistance; efforts should be made to increase this. At present, complaints of delay in approval of such cases have been received from some districts. The needy people doing small-scale business should get loan amount easily, this effort should be made at bank branch level. Along with this, joint efforts should be made at the government and bank level so that the loan given to these beneficiaries is also repaid. This will make the task of re-lending to such beneficiaries easier.
Chouhan said that small scale traders are generally not aware of the technical aspects of bank loan, hence their difficulties should be solved at bank level. Chief General Manager Pandey assured the Chief Minister that it will be ensured that this work is not delayed. All the bank branches have been directed by the State Bank of India headquarters for immediate approval of small business loan schemes. State Bank of India is committed to the welfare of the poor. Rajesh Saxena, General Manager of State Bank of India, was also present during the meeting with Chief Minister Shri Chouhan.