The assets owned by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the governing body of the hill temple of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala is over Rs 2.5 lakh crore, official sources said in Tirupati on Sunday, November 6. The TTD is growing richer and richer as the cash and gold offerings made by devotees at the hill temple continue to rise and fixed deposits in banks are also generating more income in view of the increase in interest rates, a temple official said.
Sources in the governing body told PTI that the rough value of assets owned by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams across the country could be over Rs 2.5 lakh crore. This includes land parcels, buildings, cash and gold deposits in the banks, given as offerings to the temple by devotees. Assigning a value to priceless antique jewellery and properties including cottages and guest houses on the seven hills to provide amenities to devotees could be misleading and hence does not form part of the estimated, general asset value, they said.
The TTD's fixed deposits with several PSU (Public Sector Undertakings) and private banks have as on September 30, 2022, crossed Rs 15,938 crore as against Rs 13,025 crore in June 2019, seen as a record surge. The gold deposits made by the TTD in banks have also now increased rapidly from 7.3 tonnes in 2019 to 10.25 tonnes as on September 30, 2022.
In its about Rs 3,100 crore annual budget for 2022-23 presented in February, the TTD has projected over Rs 668 crore as income in the form of interest from cash deposits in banks. Also, Rs 1,000 crore income was predicted in the form of cash offerings alone --by about 2.5 crore devotees-- in the hundi of the hill temple.
The TTD is getting a good sum as income on the 10.25 tonnes of gold deposited recently with the SBI and Indian Overseas Bank. The SBI alone has about 9.8 tonnes of gold deposits. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has over 900 immovable properties measuring well over 7,000 acres across the country and it administers a large number of temples in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha, Haryana, Maharashtra and New Delhi.