Tirumala Tirupati Devesthanam okays Rs 1,925 cr budget

TIRUPATI: The Tirumala Tirupati Devesthanam (TTD) which manages the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara, richest in the country, at Tirumala near here has approved a Rs 1925 crore-budget for the fiscal year 2008-09.

The temple hundi offerings by devotees alone has been expected to net Rs 425 crore during the period, TTD Board Chairman B Karunakara Reddy and TTD Executive officer K V Ramanchary told reporters on Sunday.

The sale tickets of different types of temple rituals and special entry darshan tickets has been estimated to fetch about Rs 100 crore and sale of laddu prasadams would amount to Rs 40 crore while the auction of human hair offerings would be about Rs 100 crore, they said.

Investments realised was expected to cross about Rs 762 crore, they added.

The interest on investments made at different financial institutions was expected to fetch about Rs 311 crore, the Board added.