The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the affairs of the Sri Venkateswara temple atop Tirumala, saw a steep decline in their hundi collections during the year 2017.

While the TTD, which manages the richest Hindu temple in the world, still earned Rs 995.89 crore, it was around Rs 50 crore lesser than how much they had earned in 2016.

The dip in collections has been attributed to the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in 2016-end.

In March last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated that it would not accept demonetised notes from the TTD, as the deadline for exchanging notes had passed. 

The TTD had made a request to the Central bank, as devotees continued to deposit old notes that had become invalid, in their hundis.

"Last year Hundi earning was Rs 1046.28 crore. This time it is Rs 50.39 crore less, due to demonetised notes that were deposited and are of no use. However, earning from 'Online Hundi' was recorded more than last year. This year TTD earned Rs 15.36 crore as compared to Rs 10.53 crore last year," TTD Executive officer, Anil Kumar Singhal was quoted as saying.

Singhal participated in a 'Dial your EO' programme on Friday on SVBC, the TV channel owned by the Hindu religious body.

The TTD also said that 2.73 crore devotees visited the temple last year, and 1,87,000kg of hair of different categories was sold, which raked in Rs.6.39 crore.

In July last year, a Visakhapatnam-based journalist moved the Supreme Court, seeking orders to the RBI and Central government, for accepting demonetised notes offered to the Lord Venkateswara temple.

Stating that more than Rs 8 crore worth demonetised notes were lying with the TTD, the petition claimed that the move was not only discriminatory, but also meant that the "wishes" of the devotees would not be fulfilled.

Nearly 5.13 lakh devotees visited the temple in the eight days that followed demonetisation, with the hundi registering a whopping Rs 22.9 crore over the week, the TTD had said.