Digital payments economy and its uptake among street vendors under the PM SVANidhi program
Oct 30, 2026- 1 min
Oct 30, 2026
1 min 
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the Prime Minister’s Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) program in June 2020. PM SVANidhi supports street vendors with collateral-free working capital loans, repayment incentives, interest subsidies, and cashback rewards for digital transactions. Digital payments can improve business continuity, access to formal financial services, earnings, and financial security. However, the factors that influence adoption among street vendors remain poorly understood.
MoHUA engaged MSC to assess the digital payments economy of street vendors in India, examine barriers to adoption, and recommend ways to increase uptake and sustained use of digital payments under PM SVANidhi. The study identified key challenges, which included limited digital literacy, low awareness of cashback incentives, soundbox costs, and gaps in transaction tracking caused by frequent changes to quick response (QR) codes and virtual payment addresses (VPAs).
Based on the findings, MSC provided recommendations to increase the uptake of digital payments among street vendors and enhance payment reconciliation and coordination efforts between the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), digital payment aggregators (DPAs), and MoHUA. Together, these recommendations provided MoHUA and ecosystem stakeholders with an evidence-based approach to promote the sustained use of digital payments among street vendors under PM SVANidhi.
Expected benefits include lower costs, greater cashback retention, better visibility of business receipts, sustained sales, and improved working capital management.
The Gates Foundation commissioned the project.
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