The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), custodian of the world’s richest temple, sees the government’s demonetisation move as a ‘blessing in disguise’ to move over to the digital platform.
Though the announcement is clearly a surprise, the management is bracing itself up to fill the gaps as the pilgrims remained clueless at the break of dawn and confusion reigned in the temple city. As the demonetisation reality is yet to dawn even on the corporate and retail trade sectors which witness huge flow of hard currency, the situation is clearly different for the TTD.
What makes it special is the ‘hundi’ at the Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirumala, which receives copious offerings from the devout in the form of hard currency.
While the TTD receives approximately Rs. 3 crore per day in the form of collections, common sense indicates that the lion’s share of the amount is through high denomination notes offered by the affluent.
Coins form only a minuscule percentage of the hundi offerings, to the tune of Rs. 50 crore per annum. It is in this backdrop that the TTD management is learnt to be devising ways to tackle the huge inflow of the demonetised currency. “Yes, there are huge volumes of cash inflow into our coffers. We will have to somehow find ways to implement the government’s decision. We are at it,” says TTD Executive Officer D. Sambasiva Rao.
Even while grappling with the shortcomings in the short run, the TTD officials see an opportunity to migrate to the electronic fund transfer to the extent possible. While it has no say in hundi collections, where hard cash is offered, the TTD is keen to take the e-route wherever possible, say the points of sale such as the accommodation and laddu counters at Tirumala, publication stalls, etc.
“We have requested our bankers to install more card-swiping machines at the accommodation counters. This will mitigate the woes of pilgrims and also help migration to the digital platform,” TTD’s Additional Financial Advisor and Chief Accounts Officer O. Balaji told The Hindu.
Spiritual quotient
As people prefer to exchange the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes for smaller currency, the hundi is also expected to receive more such notes. “The spiritual quotient may go further up as more Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes may be deposited in the hundi in the coming days,” another official remarked.
