TTD budget goes up by 43%, estimated at `4,411.68 cr

Tirupati: TTD chairman YV Subba Reddy along with TTD EO AV Dharma Reddy released annual budget for the financial year 2023-24 at Rs 4,411.68 crore. During the media conference held at Annamayya Bhavan in Tirumala on Wednesday, the chairman extending Telugu Ugadi greetings to devotees said that the TTD board has approved the budget this time which is the highest by any trust board since the inception of the temple body in 1933.

The budget estimates for 2022-23 stood at Rs.3096 crore while the budget estimate for 2023-24 stands at Rs 4,411.68 crore which is 43 per cent more than the previous year. However, the revised estimates for 2022-23 stood at Rs 4385.25 crore. The chairman told the media that post Covid the revenue of Hundi has increased in an incredible manner and during last year the Hundi collections stood at around Rs 1,613 crore as against Rs 1,200 crore before Covid. Similarly, the virtual sevas during Covid period and also the interest accruals on bank deposits post Covid have impacted the revenue collections.

He said that they hope to earn a major chunk of income from Hundi which has been projected at Rs 1,591 crore. It was estimated that a sum of Rs 990 crore will be earned in the coming year towards interest receipts while the sale of prasadams will provide Rs 500 crore followed by Darshan tickets at Rs 330 crore. On the expenditure side, a major portion goes towards human resource payments which is estimated at Rs 1,532.20 crore as against the revised estimate of Rs 1,515.70 crore during the previous year. It is followed by the material purchase which stands at Rs.690.50 crore.

TTD has allocated Rs 93 crore for HDPP and allied project payments, Rs 300 crore for engineering works, Rs.600 crore for corpus and other investments, Rs 25 crore for Srinivasa Setu works and Rs 151.62 crore for loans and advances to employees. Further, Rs 86 crore has been allocated for SVIMS engineering capital works and revenue grant, Rs 115.5 crore for grants to other institutions, Rs 75 crore for pension and EHS fund contributions and Rs 55 crore for electric charges. Towards common good fund, it will contribute Rs 40 crore to the state government and Rs 10 crore towards other contributions. It has also allocated Rs.194.10 crore for TTD hospitals and dispensaries, grants to SVIMS, BIRRD and SV Pranadana trust. TTD educational institutions get Rs 128.88 crore while other universities are allocated grants of Rs 29 crore.