This story is from August 5, 2015

First of a kind: Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala gets a demat account

The Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala means business now. In perhaps the first of its kind donation facility in the world that could further fill the coffers of the richest temple of the country, the Tirumala Tirupati Devesthanams (TTD) has opened up a demat account to accept donations in the forms of shares and securities.
First of a kind: Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala gets a demat account
The Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala means business now. In perhaps the first of its kind donation facility in the world that could further fill the coffers of the richest temple of the country, the Tirumala Tirupati Devesthanams (TTD) has opened up a demat account to accept donations in the forms of shares and securities.
HYDERABAD: The Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala means business now. In perhaps the first of its kind donation facility in the world that could further fill the coffers of the richest temple of the country, the Tirumala Tirupati Devesthanams (TTD) has opened up a demat account to accept donations in the forms of shares and securities.
Demat account 1601010000384828 was opened with the Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL).
The formalities of opening the account were completed when officials of the Central Depositories Service Ltd (CDSL) met TTD executive officer D Sambasiva Rao in Tirumala on Monday evening.
According to sources, apart from donations in cash, gold and other precious ornaments, the temple hundi has seen ‘physical’ shares and securities being deposited on a regular basis. “We have been receiving physical share certificates worth lakhs of rupees for many years now,” said an official, but refused to disclose their total value.
Now, with the opening of the demat account, devotees can transfer shares online to the temple administration from anywhere in the world. The TTD already accepts online cash donations but this is the first instance of a temple opening up its doors to accept electronic share certificates and securities.
“Devotees who have DEMAT accounts can now directly donate their shares as gift to TTD’s demat account through off-market transaction from anywhere in the world. The opening of the demat account can further boost the revenues of the temple as I expect many promoters floating a new company will donate a part of their shareholding to the TTD to mark an auspicious beginning,” Satish Kantheti, joint managing director of Zen Securities, told TOI. There are over two crore Demat accounts held by investors in India.

The TTD sources said in the instances when physical shares were dropped in the hundi, some were accompanied by the transfer forms while others weren’t. “When the transfer forms were there along with the shares, they could be transferred to the temple management. Now, with the demat account having been activated, there should be no hitch in the donations of share certificates and securities to the TTD,” they said.
The CDSL officials who met with the TTD EO on Monday evening included chairman N Rangachari, MD and CEO PS Reddy and SHCIL MD and CEO NGS Ramesh.
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