TIRUPATI: Despite low pilgrim footfalls, hundi (Parakamani) collection at Srivari temple in Tirumala has been registering a steady increase. The hundi income received in February this year is relatively higher compared to the corresponding period in the last two years.
As per official figures, TTD netted an income of Rs 93.96 crore through offerings made by devotees in the hundi last month. The share of e-Hundi (online money offerings) in this was Rs 3.51 crore. The majority share of the total offerings was from Srivari Hundi at Tirumala temple, which was Rs 90.45 crore.
On an average, around 50,000 devotees have been having darshan of Lord Venkateswara every day in the last couple of months. In the pre-Covid times, this figure was at least 75,000 pilgrims a day. As many as 19.93 lakh and 21.68 lakh devotees had darshan of Lord Balaji in February 2019 and February 2020 respectively. The corresponding hundi collections were Rs 83.44 crore and Rs 89.07 crore of offerings.
In February this year, however, the number of devotees who had darshan of the Lord dipped to 14.41 lakh. But the income received through Srivari hundi increased to Rs 90.45 crore. The hundi registered 8 percent and 1.5 percent increase in income when compared to figures of February 2019 and 2020 respectively, despite the pilgrim count declining by 27 percent and 33.5 percent respectively.
“TTD’s revenue has stabilised now, as the daily hundi collection has reached the pre-Covid-19 levels. In fact, it has increased a few folds than the pre-Covid times. Now, the daily hundi collection is anywhere between Rs 3 crore to Rs 3.5 crore”, a TTD official said.
Another senior official remarked that the current year has been very exciting, as donations and Srivari Hundi offerings have been recording a significant growth compared to previous year. He expressed his happiness that the hill shrine is now presenting an almost normal picture like in pre-Covid days.
With regard to Anna Prasadam to devotees, around 21.07 lakh devotees have been provided Anna prasadams in February this year, while 43.94 lakh and 48.40 lakh devotees enjoyed the prasadam in February 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Similarly, around 82.38 lakh and 83.91 lakh laddus had been sold to devotees during that period, as against 76.61 lakh laddus in February this year. In all, 6.72 lakh devotees got tonsured at Tirumala in February this year, as against 6.70 lakh and 7.77 lakh during the same period in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
