Mysuru among 17 cities picked for dedicated street food hub under PM SVANidhi

Mysuru is among 17 cities across the country selected to establish a dedicated street food hub under the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has said. The initiative, coordinated by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), is intended to support street vendors while promoting local cuisine and tourism.

According to the MCC, the proposed hub in Mysuru is expected to provide food stalls, seating, drinking water, toilets, adequate lighting, signboards, solid waste management facilities and digital payment options. Arrangements are also planned to ensure that vendors comply with food safety and hygiene standards.

Officials expect the facility to improve the vending environment, help vendors increase their earnings and give visitors a better experience of the city's local cuisine.

MCC Commissioner M.K. Savita said the hub would offer an opportunity to showcase Mysuru's traditional food and culinary culture to a wider audience, while creating a more organised and hygienic environment for both vendors and customers.

Mysuru's selection is notable given its culinary heritage, its standing as a tourism destination and its reputation as a clean city. The project is expected to support local food businesses while adding to the city's tourism attractions.

The PM SVANidhi scheme, launched in 2020, provides collateral-free working capital loans to street vendors to help them resume and expand their businesses, along with incentives for digital transactions. The street food hub component extends the scheme's livelihood focus to physical infrastructure, by giving vendors designated spaces rather than leaving them to operate on pavements and road margins.

Street vendors form a large part of India's urban informal economy, and urban local bodies have increasingly been asked to plan vending zones under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. That law requires States and municipal bodies to conduct surveys of vendors, issue certificates of vending and identity cards, and designate vending zones where hawking is permitted. Dedicated hubs are seen by administrators as a way of bringing vendors into a regulated space with basic amenities, while reducing friction over encroachment of footpaths and roads.

The MCC has not yet disclosed the location of the proposed hub, the number of vendors it will accommodate, the estimated cost or a timeline for completion. These details are expected to be finalised in consultation with MoHUA and the State government. The Union Ministry has not publicly named the other 16 selected cities in the announcement relating to Mysuru.

The project is part of broader efforts to promote inclusive urban development, improve public amenities and strengthen livelihood opportunities for street vendors within the PM SVANidhi framework. For Mysuru, the outcome will depend on how quickly the facility is built and whether vendors are involved in its planning and allotment, so that the hub serves the people it is meant for.