At the Krishna Pushkara water festival, coins flowed like water

Coins flowed like water at the 12-day Krishna Pushkara water festival in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, with banks and priests mobilising an estimated ₹50-75 lakh of the metallic money needed for ancestral rituals and propitiatory offerings to the river.

Much of the pilgrims’ demand for the coins was met by banks, both in the public and private sectors. Andhra Bank, in particular, exchanged coins worth ₹1.5 lakh everyday during the festival, which concluded last week.

The bank earmarked a nodal branch for coin distribution with dedicated staff, and operated mobile ATMs to ensure enough liquidity.

“We anticipated the demand and had ₹15 lakh in coins ready to ensure adequate supply,’’ GSV Krisna Rao, Deputy General Manager, Andhra Bank, told BusinesLine.

Other banks had organised special coin exchange melas on select days.

According to information provided by ICICI Bank, coins worth ₹35 lakh were exchanged in the melas organised in Vijayawada, the hub of the festival.

A State Bank of India official said the bank had regularly distributed coins through vending machines in branches.

In addition to banks, priests too maintained stocks of coins for pilgrims. “I myself had given coins worth ₹25,000 to pilgrims,’’ said Hari Venkata Sastry, a Vedic pandit in Vijayawada.

According to bankers, coins in denominations of ₹1, ₹2 and ₹5 were in high demand, although ₹10 coins were also distributed.

“Donations are generally made by adding one rupee to any rounded-off amount, say, ₹101, ₹501 and ₹1,001 or so. This requires plenty of coins,’’ Sastry said.

And thanks to these measures, that need was met by a steady stream of coins.

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