Overview
- At the Thiruvananthapuram event, the Prime Minister said 10,000 vendors in Kerala and over 600 in the city received credit cards, while media reports said around one lakh vendors received PM SVANidhi loans.
- The card provides a total credit limit of ₹30,000 with an initial working limit of ₹10,000 and an interest-free window of 20–50 days for users who maintain repayment discipline.
- Usage is confined to digital payments with no cash withdrawals or international transactions, and certain merchant categories such as alcohol, gambling, foreign airlines, and international hotel chains are blocked.
- Implementation is led jointly by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Department of Financial Services, with eligibility for applicants aged 21–65 who have no non-performing loan accounts and submit Aadhaar, PAN, vendor ID, and bank details.
- Auto-debit options such as ECS, NACH, or AutoPay will support timely repayments, and the launch formed part of a broader program that also saw new Amrit Bharat trains flagged off and development projects inaugurated in Kerala.