Tirumala trust banks on State Bank of India

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has shifted 1,075kg of gold from its reserves to the State Bank of India (SBI) for safe custody.

The move follows growing security concerns and allegations of misappropriation of funds and donations offered by devotees.

The TTD has an estimated 3,000kg of gold from devotees’donations. The organisation moves out a part of the accrual regularly to a mint in Mumbai, to make coins popularly known as ‘dollars’, to be sold to the devotees again. The ‘dollars’ have great demand as the devotees consider them divine gifts.

A TTD official handling treasury was recently accused of smuggling out the ‘dollars’, either to be gifted to friends, or to be sold in the market at a premium.

“We have been sending the gold to the Bombay Mint by rail. Each time it is sent, we keep our fingers crossed for its safety. Now, the SBI has taken responsibility of keeping the gold with it and also taking it from the TTD to safe custody,” TTD chairman DK Adikeshavulu Naidu said.

The TTD, the trust managing the abode of Lord Balaji in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, and many other nearby temples, collects a significant amount of gold every year in addition to gold donations from the who’s who of the country.

The SBI has experience in managing gold belonging to temples since it handles reserves of the Guruvayoor and Vaishnodevi temples.

The TTD evaluated three banks’ proposals and the country’s largest banker offered a better interest rate.

“They (TTD) found us competitive and attractive. We offered an interest rate of 1.6% per annum and the deposit is for five years,” a senior SBI official said.

The TTD is now contemplating a similar deal for its silver deposits. Though the exact amount of silver with the TTD is not known, it is said to be several times more than the gold deposits.