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State Bank of India (SBI) will now safeguard 1,175 kg of gold belonging to Lord Balaji at Tirupati.
A formal letter of approval from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) to deposit gold under SBI's gold deposit scheme was handed over to Mr T.S. Krishnaswamy, General Manager, SBI at Tirupati on Friday.
SBI had mobilised 7.97 tonnes of gold so far under the scheme excluding TTD's latest deposit.
The gold is melted, purified and assayed to be lent as gold bars as metal gold loans to the jewellers.
“At present, 700 tonnes of gold is being imported into the country every year. About 20,000 tonnes of gold is estimated to be in the country.
The TTD's gold forms the lion's share of gold which was raised from temples,'' SBI said in a release.
The bank had also launched its secured payment gateway facility for online ‘hundi' donations to Tirupati, it added.
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