God giveth, God taketh

Well, that is the way of life itself, He gives and He takes. And looks like the same philosophy has been extended to the Lord’s fixed deposits too! The second richest temple in India, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) is getting more than us mere mortals to park its funds.

Last year, TTD parked a whopping Rs.3000 crore with banks and that too for a tenure of one year. It is said to have got a rate of 9.8% which is over 100-110 bps higher than what we get for parking our funds with banks. Well, when we put money in FDs, we got to the bank but in case of TTD, the bankers queued up and bids were called out and the one’s giving the highest rates were given the honor of holding the Lord’s money.

In a poor country like India, temples are amongst the richest in the world and this is because, apart from being extremely God fearing, people donate a lot to temples, making an offering with every visit. And thus it comes as no surprise to know that bankers are falling over each other to get the account of the Lord. It not only means “blessings” but it also means more money could come as years roll by. Maybe we will have some banks putting out ads, urging people to invest with them as the Lord has an account with them!