Account Number 1601010000384828 with the Stock Holding Corporation of India is divine. It belongs to Lord Balaji, opened by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.
The account is functional and devotees can donate shares to the Lord, who has perhaps become the first deity in the world to have a demat account, thanks to the increasing donations in the form of shares.
According to Sambasiva Rao, Executive Officer, TTD, which administers the Tirumala-Tirupati and various other temples, it was becoming cumbersome to convert the donated shares into certificates as often the shares are donated without the transfer document. The new demat account will make things easier. Rao did not give the details of the number or value of shares received so far.
The Tirumala-Tirupati temple is the richest in the world with over 1 lakh devotees visiting the shrine everyday. The daily hundi collection is in the range of ₹3-4 crore, including large quantities of gold.
The temple owns 20 tonnes of the yellow metal. SBI, the custodian, received 1,800 kg of gold as deposit from TTD last year. This year too, the Trust is likely to deposit a similar quantity of gold with the State Bank of India.