The Coronavirus pandemic that has wreaked havoc with the economy of the entire world, not just India, has had its serious impact on the revenues of India’s richest temple of Lord Venkateshwara of Tirumala.
In the last four months, the financial position of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) which manages the temple has turned from bad to worse, thanks to Coronavirus pandemic.
With more than 90 lakh pilgrims could not come to Tirumala to have the darshan of the Lord during the Covid-19 crisis, the revenues have fallen drastically.
As against the expected revenues of Rs 1100 crore projected by the TTD, it could get only Rs 270 crore – a shortage of more than Rs 800 crore.
Even among this Rs 270 crore, an amount of Rs 240 crore was not a regular income to the temple, but was only interest on the deposits the TTD has in various banks. So, only Rs 30 crore was the actual revenue from the devotees.
Because of fall in the footfall of pilgrims, the TTD could not generate revenues even from laddu sales. In the last four months, the TTD could sell nearly 3.5 crore.
Similarly, the income from Kalyana Katta – tonsuring centre, has also come down drastically, because of the Corona scare haunting the pilgrims.
“If the same situation continues, the Tirumala temple will become bankrupt and the TTD has to slash the salaries of its staff. We hope the situation will improve at the earliest,” a TTD source said.
