Tirupati Temple Trust Declares Assets, Says It Has Over 10 Tonnes Of Gold, Rs 15,900 Crore In Cash

On Saturday, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) released a white paper and declared the list of its assets including fixed deposits and gold deposits. The TTD declared that the present trust board has strengthened its investment guidelines since 2019.

The trust also denied social media reports that the TTD chairman and the board had decided to invest surplus funds in the Securities of the Andhra Pradesh government. The trust says the surplus amounts are invested in scheduled banks. In a press release, TTD said (when translated from Telugu): "Devotees of Srivari are requested not to believe such conspiratorial false propaganda. Cash and gold deposits made by TTD in various banks are done in a very transparent manner."

The temple trust said that it has 10.3 tonnes of gold deposits in nationalised banks worth more than Rs 5,300 crore. It has a cash deposit of Rs 15,938 crore.

TTD pegged the total worth of its assets at Rs 2.26 lakh crore, reported Times of India. AV Dharma Reddy, TTD executive officer told the Times of India that the net worth of the temple trust has gone up to Rs 2.26 lakh crore. "TTD's investments in the form of fixed deposits in various banks in 2019 was 13,025 crore, which has now increased to 15,938 crores. In the last three years, the investment increased by 2,900 crores," Mr Reddy told the publication.

According to bank-wise investment shared by the trust, TTD has 7339.74 tons of gold deposit in 2019 and 2.9 tons were added in the last three years.

TOI also reported that the temple assets include 960 properties spread over 7,123 acres across India.

In a status note the TTD said as per TTD Rules, it had invested in Scheduled Banks at the H1 rate of interest only.

The income made by the temple comes from donations by the devotees, businesses and institutions.