Tirumala Tirupati temple budget biggest in 90 years; Hundi collection up 33% since covid-19

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, arguably one of India’s richest temples has approved ₹4,411.68 crore as its annual budget for the year 2023-24. The TTD Trust Board, which met at Tirumala on Ugadi (Telugu New Year’s day) on Wednesday approved the budget, which is said to be the highest ever since the inception of the temple body in 1933.

TTD Chairman Y V Subba Reddy along with TTD Executive Officer A V Dharma Reddy released the annual budget. The Hundi collection is one of the main sources of revenue for the hilltop temple. "The revenue from Hundi has increased post covid-19. During last year, the Hundi collections stood at ₹1,613 crore (2022-23) as against ₹1,200 crore before covid-19. Similarly, the virtual sevas during the covid-19 period and interests on bank deposits post covid-19 have impacted the revenue," said Subba Reddy.

In the coming financial year, the trust board is looking to earn in the ballpark of a staggering ₹1,600 crore in Hundi donations alone. The Hundi receives donations not only from Indian currency but also in the form of US dollars, Malaysian dollars, Singapore dollars and other major currencies, and in the form of precious metals like gold and silver, among others.

The second main source of revenue for the temple is the interest in investments made by the trust board in various banks and financial institutions. "The trust board hopes to earn a major chunk of its income from Srivari Hundi at Tirumala temple – estimated at ₹1,591 crore. The board also hopes to generate ₹990 crore from interest on investments against the ₹813 crore earned in the last financial year," says the trust’s chairman.

Sales of laddu and other prasadams are expected to earn around ₹500 crore. The sale of darshan tickets is expected to raise another ₹330 crore, and another estimated ₹140 crore from the sale of seva tickets. The Tirumala temple is one the main sources of human hair as the majority of those who visit the temple shave their heads as a form of prayer to the Lord. The temple trust is hoping to earn ₹126 crore from the sale of human hair, which is used in the manufacture of L-Cysteine, an amino acid used to prolong the shelf-life of commonplace products such as commercial bread. It can also be found in duck and chicken feathers and cow horns, but the majority of the production of this amino acid comes from human hair.

Many devotees from states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana take a vow to conduct marriages on the sacred hill. The Temple Trust has constructed marriage halls in and around the temple premises and charges rent on these halls. The temple is expected to earn another ₹129 crore from accommodation charges and Kalyana mandapam receipts.

Thousands of employees are on the payroll of Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam and payment of salaries and wages is the main expenditure of the temple. In the coming year, it is expected that approximately ₹1,532.20 crore will be spent on the payment of salaries and wages. The purchase of materials for the proper functioning of the temple and the making of prasadams is expected to be ₹690.50 crore and the trust has also decided to provide ₹600 crore for corpus and other investments. Engineering works are likely to cost another ₹300 crore and ₹151.62 crore has been set aside for loans and advances to employees.

The trust in its annual budget has mentioned that ₹50 crore will be provided to the Andhra Pradesh state government, including ₹40 crore towards the common good fund. For other miscellaneous payments, maintenance, capital works, tender publications and advertisements, the estimated cost was put at ₹134.58 crore. The closing cash and bank balances were put at ₹324.28 crore.

The budget 2023-24 marked some significance to the Vigilance and Security departments, as the board allocated ₹178.33 crore to this department. This is in order to prevent corruption in the temple. The board allocated ₹157.88 crores for TTD educational institutions and grants to other universities and ₹194.10 crore for TTD hospitals and dispensaries, grants to SVIMS (Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences), BIRRD hospital and SV Pranadana trust.

The Tirumala temple has a net worth of ₹2.5 lakh crore and its assets include 10.25 tonnes of gold as deposits in various banks worth ₹16,000 crore, 960 properties across India worth ₹2.5 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, in a bid to increase the production of tasty laddu prasadam, the TTD Board has decided to set up a fully automatic machine on the temple premises. Reliance group has agreed to arrange for the ₹50-crore machine for making better-quality laddus. “Its capacity is nearly 6 lakh laddus a day. TTD will now be able to provide more hygienic and tastier laddus to its devotees,” said Subba Rao.

Currently, laddus are handmade and long queues can be seen on the temple premises as devotees try to purchase as many laddus as possible. Implementation of this system will improve production, and might also remove the cap on the number of laddus that can be obtained per ticket.