TTD Plans Corpus Funds for Its Temples With Meagre Incomes

Tirupati:Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) plans to create corpus funds for temples under its administrative control, so that they become self-reliant in carrying out their day-to-day functions.

An internal review of the 61 temples that TTD manages across the country has disclosed that only 13 temples are able to meet their routine expenditure from their own income. The remaining 48 temples depended on regular financial support from TTD for their daily operations, such as expenses over basic maintenance, carrying out rituals, and payment of staff wages.

Officials have highlighted that this dependence has continued for several years.

To address this issue, the TTD trust board, chaired by B.R. Naidu, has approved a concept note outlining a structured framework for financial sustainability of individual temples. The board has authorised TTD executive officer (EO) Anil Kumar Singhal to take further steps for implementing the proposal.

As per the concept note, many temples lack specific corpus funds. Their hundi collections have not been invested separately in fixed deposits. In the absence of a dedicated capital base, these temples have relied on periodic assistance from central TTD funds even to meet routine expenses.

Under the proposed framework, a separate, non-withdrawable corpus fund will be created for each temple. It will be treated as a capital fund and invested in interest-bearing instruments approved by TTD. The interest earned will be used to meet recurring expenses, such as ritual costs, wages, payment of electricity, water and sanitation charges, procurement of materials, prasadam preparation, and festival-related expenditure.

Major capital works will continue to be funded through the TTD engineering budget.

Since most temples do not currently have their own corpus, TTD will initially earmark a portion of its general investments as an upfront corpus for each temple in its books of accounts. The size of the corpus will be determined based on the gap between income and expenditure recorded at each temple over the past three years. This is to ensure that the interest income is sufficient to cover routine expenses.

Hundi collections received at these temples will continue to be invested by TTD as part of its central corpus. Over time, the initial corpus provided by TTD will be gradually recovered, depending on each temple’s ability to generate surplus income through hundi collections, donations and increased pilgrim footfalls.

As per the approved plan, the allocation of initial corpus for all temples is to be completed before January 31, 2026. Temples have been asked to prepare their budgets for the 2026–27 financial year based on recent earnings and expected interest income.