THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) will deposit about 500kg of gold in the Reserve Bank of India’s gold monetisation scheme. The board has just completed a massive exercise to catalogue the stock lying at various temples and strongrooms.
An approximate annual return of Rs 5 crore is expected from the deposit. The board will go ahead with the plan after obtaining sanction from the High Court. “The inventorying is over and a reverification is being done now. The preliminary assessment showed that about 500kg of gold can be spared for the monetisation scheme. It does not include ornaments or items of ritualistic significance,” TDB president N Vasu told TNIE.
The gold identified for the scheme are mostly valuables donated by devotees in the form of coins, ornaments and figurines. The pandemic caused severe stress to the board, with its revenue — mostly collection from the 1,200-odd temples under its fold — declining drastically. The board now depends on government grants to meet the salary, pension and establishment costs, which fall in `40-`45 lakh range a month.
According to Vasu, the revenue from monetisation will be a big relief but quite insufficient to meet the revenue shortfall suffered due to Covid. So, the board has embarked on several steps like increasing the non-temple revenue and rationalising the expenditure. The inventorying has helped the board get exact data on the gold and silver collections, gems and other valuables.
Board to auction unused lamps, wares at temples
According to the board, the monetisation scheme is more attractive to it on the security angle rather than the financial aspect. The RBI will give an annual return for 2.5% interest rate. The monetisation was planned much before Covid as it gives more security to the stock, according to the president.
The board has also initiated steps to auction unused lamps and wares at temples. It will begin after obtaining the High Court’s permission. There is a huge stock of lamps and wares lying idle in temples which were donated by devotees.
INVENTORYING OVER
1,200-odd temples the Travancore Devaswom Board has under its fold
The board now depends on government grants to meet the salary, pension and establishment costs
The costs come to Rs 40-Rs 45 lakh a month