In her press briefing yesterday, Smt
Sitharaman announced Street Vendor Loan Scheme,
as follows :
Ø The scheme will be announced / launched within one month
Ø It will cover 50 lakh street vendors from all
over the country – rural + urban ( approx. fig given by States )
Ø Each vendor will be eligible for a “ working capital “ loan of up to Rs 10,000
Ø Total allocation = Rs 5,000 crore
Ø Digital payments will be incentivized through monetary rewards and enhanced working capital
credit would be made available for good repayment behavior.
[ source :
RELATED NEWS :
Ø Shri Vijay Rupani [ CM-Gujarat ] announced
yesterday a similar scheme as follows , with formalities likely to be completed in the coming three months :
# Loan
amount = Max Rs 1 Lakh that carries a tenure of three years [
total of Rs 5,000 crore ]
# Small traders, street-vendors and small professionals in
the state.{ approx. 10
lakh entities }
# This
loan would be available at 2 per cent annual interest while the remaining 6 per
cent
interest
would be borne by the state government
# The
beneficiaries would also get a moratorium of six months and would not be required to pay
either interest of principal amount during
this time
# Loan
will be available via written application at co-operative banks, district banks
and credit
co-operative societies.
=============================================================================
Of all
the “ Relief Steps “ announced by Smt Sitharamanji , over the past 2 days, I
believe this, by far , will have the greatest far-reaching / universal impact
I am assuming
:
Ø Terms will be
same as in case of SHISHU scheme of MUDRA , viz :
For the
sake of easier understanding, let us assume :
Ø Loan amount =
Rs 10,000
Ø Interest Rate =
12 % per year ( 1 % per month )
Ø Loan
period =
1 year [ no moratorium ]
Therefore
, amount re-payable every month :
Ø Loan Principal
amount ……….. Rs 833
Ø Interest amount
……………… Rs 100
Ø Total per month………………… Rs
933 [ total per day = Rs 31 ]
Now
consider the following :
Ø
There are nearly 3
lakh hawkers in Mumbai, and according to conservative
estimates, each pays anywhere between Rs 20 and Rs 100 in hafta every day.
Ø
This means up
to Rs 1.5 crore in cash changes
hands every day to protect the
businesses that have taken over Mumbai's streets. / Nov 22,
2017
[ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/rs-1-5cr-hafta-changes-hands-daily-to-allow-street-
This means, on an average, each “ Unlicensed Street
Vendor “ ends
up paying a “ Daily Hafta
“ to the police, of say, Rs
50 { 3 lakh vendors paying Rs 150
lakh }
But ( I suppose ) , as soon as he gets that
Vendor Loan of Rs 10,000 , in essence , the government accepts him as a legitimate vendor and he gets a RIGHT ( official
permission ) to sell on the streets
In other words, he becomes a LICENSED vendor , who
need not pay daily hafta to police !
That
means :
Ø By re-paying Rs
31 per day { Principal + Interest } , he avoids hafta of Rs 50 per day { Daily
saving of Rs 19 }
Ø Annual saving
of Rs 6,945 for each vendor ( round off to Rs 7,000 )
Ø Saving of Rs
3,500 Crore per year for 50 lakh vendors !
{ I don’t
think FM will talk about this SAVING in to-day’s press briefing !
Politically incorrect ? }
Implications :
Ø Once the Scheme
gets launched and loan-recipient vendors realize that they need not pay DAILY
HAFTA to police, there is a good possibility that 500 lakh persons come
forward to become STREET VENDORS
What should be the contours of
the Scheme ?
In my following earlier blogs, I have outlined
its working :
================================================================================
BMC
proposes : Hawkers will dispose ? [
26 Feb 2020 ]
Extract :
# Grant
a hawking license to all 3 lakh hawkers ( and all want to become “self-
employed “), on following terms /
conditions / methods :
# Entire
Mumbai City will be a “ Hawking Zone “ ( why not equal sharing of
inconvenience
by all Mumbai residents ) excluding vicinity of hospital / schools
Pitch-slots
to be allotted on ALL the footpaths of all the roads of Mumbai
# Hawkers
will declare themselves “Self- Employed”, by registering so on BMC web
site
# BMC
will issue to them , a hawking license – a plastic card
with, photo, name, gender, birth-date, address, mobile no, Aadhar No,
PAN etc .
Card will be embedded with a pre-paid / rechargeable FasTag , which will
automatically transfer to BMC’s bank account, LICENSE FEE, as mandated
# On
hawker’s Smartphone ( with BlueTooth / NFC / Biometric ), BMC will
install a Mobile App [ HawkWalk ? ], which can read the FasTag in the plastic card
and display ( 24x7 ), exact location of that hawker on a DASHBOARD in the
Central Hawking Control Room of BMC ( much
better than rigid Sensor anklets on
feet ! )
# If a
hawker uses mobile payment app BHIM for
accepting payments against his
sale
, 5 %
of each SALE PROCEED will get automatically credited to his
monthly License Fee.
This great incentive will
accelerate DIGITAL PAYMENTS and help organize this
totally “un-organized “business sector
# BMC is
planning to use a GIS ( Geographic Information System ) based on
compiling “ PITCH DIMENSIONS “, using “ Latitude “ and “Longitude “ for each
SLOT to be allotted , on a given footpath . This is, not only a very
cumbersome
process
but also difficult to understand
I strongly recommend that BMC consider a GIS-based service in HAWKWALK
mobile app, by integrating it with an appropriate API from , www.What3Words.com
=============================================================================================
Unlocking
Lockdown : Calibrated – Gradual [
04 April 2020 ]
Extract :
Governments
should liberalize / encourage “ self employed “ hawkers / vendors to
go from door-to-door, with whatever goods they may be selling( eg: Veg. Vendors
)
They
may be encouraged to form a SOCIETY, and launch a portal where people can register their
needs
Currently,
in Mumbai alone, there are estimated 3 lakh hawkers ( of which, only
12,000
are licensed )
Most
of them spread their ware on footpaths.
Govt should come out with a scheme
whereby
they vacate the spaces on footpaths and load their stuff onto hand-carts (
6’x3’
wooden platforms mounted on 4 bicycle wheels, called RENKDI or LAARY )
which
are a familiar sight all over India.
Corporate ( FMCG and
others ) will be happy to donate such carts to the
government
( costing approx. Rs 1,000 each ), if they are allowed to host their
product-advts on such carts,
permanently.
This ( advt ) could be a 12” wide steel
Government
may gift / donate such carts to footpath-occupying vendors, and track
their
movements through their Mobile Phones . 3 lakh carts will cost Rs 30 crore but
these
will roam 1500 km of Mumbai roads / streets, delivering good at door-steps.
Mountain
goes to Mohamed !
======================================================
Social
Distancing : Safest – Surest Method ………………………………………[ 21 April 2020 ]
Extract :
What we need to do –
and do it fast , before 3rd May when
, possibly lockdown gets lifted – is :
# Massively scale-up this
miniscule tribe of Renkdi-wallas ( from a few hundred to a few lakh )
# Make them carry all types
of essentials / rations / foods / milk ( not merely vegetables / fruits )
# Organize them ( by
official online licensing ) and allot them specific streets / societies
# Direct 60,000 + housing
societies of Mumbai, to provide parking space to a government-designated
Renkadiwlla
( for specified hours )
# Allow online E Com
retailers ( like Amazon – Flipkart – Swiggy – Zomato- Big Basket - Grofer etc )
to tie-up with
such “ Government Licensed Home
Delivery Vendors “.
Their Name / License
Number / Mobile Number / Street – Housing Societies allotted
etc., must be
published on the web sites of these E Com retailers
Mobile App of an E Com
Retailer , while accepting an Online Order, will mention the
full details of WHICH
VENDOR will make this HOME DELIVERY , indicating
approximate time of
delivery
All payment will be through
mobile wallet embedded into the E Com retailer’s Mobile
App . There will be no cash
payment upon delivery
# While granting online VENDOR LICENSE, government shall
sympathetically consider :
# Migrant Workers stuck in a city ( estimated 35 lakh in Mumbai alone )
# MSME factory workers who have lost their jobs
# Domestic servants who are sitting idle at home (
irrespective of govt pleading, no
home- owner is likely to pay them
wages for April )
# Construction workers who have lost their jobs
# In Mumbai , existing 3 lakh
hawkers who
ply their trade from slots on footpath
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