India's Cash-Rich Shrines

2. Tirupati Balaji:

Tirupati Balaji temple, with over 500 billion annual income,  is the second richest pilgrimage centre, after Padmanabhaswamy Temple. Every day close to 70,000 devotees visit Tirupati Balaji temple, while on special occasions and festivals, like the annual Brahmotsavam, the number of pilgrims shoots up to 500,000, making it the most-visited holy place in the world. About 1, 100 crore of income came from cash offerings by devotees in the temple hundi till date and interest on investments including gold deposits with nationalised banks, sale of daily tickets for rituals and darshan fetched more than 200 crore during the year. Besides income from the devotees, the temple owns about 20 tonnes of gold and diamond jewellery and some of them date back to the 12th century. This cash-rich temple is located in the hill town of Tirumala, near Tirupati in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. It is around 600 km from Hyderabad, 138 km from Chennai and 291 km from Bangalore.

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