TIRUPATI: Feb 07: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams -the world’s richest Hindu temples trust justified it’s decision to deposit Rs.10 crore in the Tirupati cooperative bank.
Amidst criticism that the Tirupati trust’s decision to deposit Rs.10 crore in the Tirupati based cooperative bank just ahead of the 2024 elections was politically motivated and was in violation of the provisions of the TTD Act, the Tirupati trust rubbished off the propaganda and clarified that the decision was vetted by the finance committee as well as the TTD trust board and the decision to park TTD funds in the Tirupati cooperative bank was taken only after a unanimous resolution was passed by the TTD trust board.
TTD management told TOI that it was not the first time that the Tirupati trust made deposits with a cooperative bank. “TTD has deposits to the tune of approximately Rs.100 crore in the Andhra Pradesh cooperative bank and the Sapthagiri Grameena bank together. The Tirupati trust also had fixed deposits with the Tirupati cooperative bank between 2000-2004”.
TTD recently invited sealed quotations from various banks and after the Tirupati cooperative bank extended the highest interest rate of 8.4%, the trust board resolved to make a fixed deposit of Rs.50 crore. However, after taking various factors into account, TTD made an FD of Rs.10 crore only with the Tirupati cooperative bank.
While the Tirupati trust has deposits worth approximately Rs.16000 crore, mostly with nationalized banks, these banks offer an interest rate of 7.8-7.9% only.
TTD also clarified that the decision to park it’s funds in the Tirupati cooperative bank was very much in-line with the provisions of the TTD Act and the state endowments Act and that there was no deviation whatsoever as has been projected in some section of the media.
