The Tirumal Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the Lord Venkatswara temple at Tirupati, has deposited 1800 kg of gold offered at the temple by devotees with the State Bank of India. This take the total deposits of gold the temple has made with various banks to more than 5000 kg. The executive officer of TTD M G Gopal handed over the gold to SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya at the devasthanams’ headquarters. This is the first deposit of gold by the temple in the last two years. The gold has been deposited under SBI Gold Scheme for a period of five years at the rate of interest of 1%, which effectively would mean addition of 12 kg of gold per year. Gopal said TTD has not made any gold deposits in the last two years as the banks have stopped accepting gold due to restrictions imposed by the RBI. After negotiating with various banks, SBI has first come forward to accept the gold deposits at one per cent interest rate per annum and we welcomed it, he added. Bhattacharya said in terms of quantity, this was the largest single deposit of gold made with the bank in the entire country. She said the gold will be taken to Government Mint at Mumbai by SBI by incurring transportation charges, transit insurance, melting and refining charges and pure gold of 0.995 purity is taken as gold deposit. TTD has gold deposits with the SBI, Corporation Bank and Indian Overseas Bank.
