Old notes make their way to temple hundis in Karnataka, spike in collection

Banashankari temple in Bengaluru opened their hundis to find that they had received Rs 56 lakh.
Old notes make their way to temple hundis in Karnataka, spike in collection
Old notes make their way to temple hundis in Karnataka, spike in collection
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While people desperate for cash throng to ATMs and banks, some others appear to have turned ‘religious’ following the central government’s demonetisation.

It was reported that with the collection in temple hundis not coming under the scanner, many temples across the country saw a drastic increase in their collections, with the majority of the currency in the devalued Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

The situation in Karnataka is no different, says Ashwini M Sripad in a report in The New Indian Express.

The 34,000 temples in the state under the purview of the muzrai department, saw a spike in their revenue over the past two weeks, with a major portion of the collection in hundis coming in the form of the devalued notes.

A senior official from the Muzrai Department told TNIE, “In the last 15 days, the income of our temples has increased drastically. But we give the grades based on a temple’s income over three years. This trend of getting more revenue because of the banned currency will be there for some time.”

Banashankari temple in Bengaluru opened their hundis last Thursday to find that they had received Rs 56 lakh.

“At least Rs 20 lakh were the banned currency notes. We will pay it to the bank. It is a record in our temple collection because we have never crossed Rs 40 lakh,” she said. 

As far as the top income-generating temples in Karnataka are concerned, Kukke Subramanya temple in Dakshina Kannada district, Nanjunedeshwara temple in Nanjangud taluk of Mysuru district and Renuka Yellamma Devi Temple in Savadatti of Belagavi district reportedly saw a revenue increase of at least 20 per cent. Their annual incomes range anywhere between Rs 3 crore and Rs 4 crore.

According to the report, Ganga Ram Baderiya, Principal Secretary to Muzrai Department said that the temples were emptying their hundies on a daily basis to deposit the money in banks.

It is learned that a circular asking all the temples to open their hundis and deposit money at the earliest has been sent out. Depending on the collection, temple hundis are normally opened once a month, once a fortnight, or even twice a week.

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