Tirumala Temple: Lord Balaji Has 11 Tonnes of Gold, Cash Deposits Worth Rs 17,000 Cr in Banks
According to the data, the presiding deity at Tirumala hill shrine has 1.2 tonnes of gold ornaments and 10 tonnes of silver. Additionally, 11 tonnes of gold is deposited in banks
Lord Venkateswara, the presiding deity of Tirumala temple, has cash deposits worth Rs 17,000 crore and 11 tonnes of gold in various banks, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the governing body of the ancient hill temple said in a statement on Monday.
In a recently held international conference, TTD Executive Officer (EO) AV Dharma Reddy explained various statistics related to Lord Balaji. According to the data, the presiding deity at Tirumala hill shrine has 1.2 tonnes of gold ornaments and 10 tonnes of silver. Additionally, 11 tonnes of gold are deposited in banks.
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With the increase in the number of devotees visiting the Tirumala hill shrine from 50,000 in 2009-10 to one lakh at present on a daily basis, the income to the TTD is also increasing at the same ratio. The TTD generates income through offerings to Hundi, ‘Talaneelaalu’ – hair offered by devotees from their heads; sale of tickets related to various sevas and darshans, sale of laddus, allotment of rooms, donations, and so on.
The annual budget of TTD has been increasing by Rs 100 crore every year.
In 2009-10, TTD chairman DK Adikeshavulu Naidu approved a Rs 1,365 crore annual budget and expected an income of Rs 521 crore for the same year. The specified authority approved a Rs 1,662 crore annual budget for 2011-12 after receiving Rs 555 crore as annual income from the Hundi. It also expected an income of Rs 650 crore through Hundi for the same financial year.
During the Covid-19 lockdown period, the income of the TTD through Hundi drastically declined and the income stood at Rs 721 crore for 2020-21 instead of the expected Rs 1,300 crore. As a result, the TTD revised its annual budget and limited it to Rs 2,553 crore. It approved a Rs 2,837 crore annual budget for 2020-21 and a Rs 2,937.85 crore annual budget for 2021-22.
When it comes to the 2023-24 financial year, the TTD board has approved an annual budget of Rs 4,411.68 crore. The income from the Hundi has been crossing the Rs 100 crore mark every month. With this, the TTD will get an annual income ranging between Rs 1,200 crore and Rs. 1,300 crore through the Hundi.
The TTD also receives annual income ranging between Rs 150 crore to Rs 170 crore through ‘Talaneelaalu’ – hair offered by the devotees from their heads. Additionally, the TTD earns hundreds of crores of rupees through interest on bank deposits, sale of laddus, various seva tickets, allotment of rooms to the devotees and donations.
The Hundi is said to be the main source of income to the TTD and the Talaneelalu occupies the second place.
The white paper released by the TTD reveals the cash deposits made at various banks as of September 2022. The deposit at the State Bank of India (SBI) amounts to Rs 5,358.11 crore. The United Bank of India (UBI) holds deposits of Rs 1,694.25 crore. Bank of Baroda (BOB) has recorded deposits worth Rs 1,839.53 crore, while Canara Bank counts Rs 1,351.00 crore in deposits. Similarly, Axis Bank shows deposits of Rs 1,006.20 crore, and HDFC Limited’s deposits amount to Rs 2,122.85 crore.
Furthermore, the Punjab National Bank (PNB) received deposits totalling Rs 660.43 crore, and the Punjab and Sindh Bank recorded Rs 306.31 crore in deposits. Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) holds deposits of Rs 101.43 crore, while Indian Bank received Rs 25.30 crore in deposits. Lastly, ICICI Bank’s deposits stood at Rs 9.70 crore and Saptagiri Grameena Bank received deposits totalling Rs 99.91 crore.
The white paper reveals that by September 2022, the deposit at the UCB amounts to Rs 1,839.36 crore. The deposit at the Central Bank of India counts at Rs 1.28 crore, while the deposit at the KVB counts at Rs 4.37 crore. The APSFC holds deposits of Rs 4.0 crore, and the Andhra Pradesh State Co-operative Bank counts Rs 1.30 crore in deposits.
Overall, a total cash amount of Rs. 15,938.68 crore has been deposited in various banks by September 2022.
Gold deposited at various banks also included details regarding gold assets, 9,819 Kgs at the SBI by September 2022 and 438.99 Kgs at the IOB by September 2022. It also disclosed the total quantity of gold deposited, which amounts to 10,258 Kgs at various banks by September 2022. On a different note, when it comes to forest land, Lord Balaji owns a vast expanse of 6,000 acres.
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