Hyderabad:
No sign of any economic slowdown at the Tirumala temple in Andhra Pradesh. The world-famous shrine of Lord Venkateshwara saw 'hundi' donations of 5.73 crores on Sunday -a new record.
So far this year, daily collections have averaged between 1.6 and 2 crores.
Before this, the highest collection was received on January 1 when the donations from devotees added up to a little over four crores.
On an average day, the temple sees about 70,000 pilgrims. On auspicious occasions, more than one lakh visitors are recorded.
Yearly, the temple gets about 650-700 cr from hundi collections. Till about 2009, this used to be about 350 cr from hundi collections.
Daily average pilgrim rush: 60-70,000 people, crosses a 1 lakh and more on auspicious days.
It is not uncommon for businessmen who are followers of Lord Balaji to declare him a formal partner in their ventures. They then give the temple a share of profits at the end of the year. So, given that the financial year has just ended, donations could be surging because of this practice.