The hundi collection at the Sri Durga Malleswara Swamyvarla Devasthanam has tripled in the last seven years. The collections, which was Rs 6.11 crore in 2005-06, has increased to Rs 18.91 crore in the last fiscal year. According to the temple officials, the income through the hundi collections has registered a steady growth since 2005. It was Rs 7.64 crore in 2006-07, Rs 9.29 crore in 2007-08, Rs 10.66 crore in 2008-09, `13.27 crore in 2009-10, Rs 16.38 crore in 2010-11.
It may be mentioned that the temple earned Rs 1 crore as hundi collections in 15 days in July this year for the first time.A temple official said that they were expecting `2 crore during the coming Dasara celebrations, making it to Rs 22 crore as the total hundi collections for this fiscal. The temple has collected Rs 7.6 crore between April 1 and September 1 this year.Speaking to Express, temple executive officer M Raghunath said the hundi collecttions is expected to increase futher in the coming days.
It may be noted that the temple has seen a phenomenal increase in the revenues in last fiscal. It touched Rs 80.69 cr as compared to the Rs 57.93 cr in 2008-09. The temple earned Rs 9.33 crore from the sale of darshan tickets, which is 11.56 pc of the total revenue.