The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has decided “in principle” to monetise the gold not used for the daily temple rituals and which do not have antique value to tide over the crisis brought about by pandemic.
“The evaluation of the gold in the 1,250 temples under the administrative control of the board is on under the Deputy Devaswom Commissioners. Valuation and indenting will take another month to know the exact quantity of gold that can be monetised,” N. Vasu, president of the TDB, told The Hindu on Friday.
The pandemic-induced lockdown for the past five months has led to the closure of temples to check the spread of virus and the loss is estimated to be around ₹300 crore. The initiative will help raise money and the cost of keeping the gold in safe custody can be avoided.
RBI loan or scheme
The TDB president said they were considering either pledging the gold with the Reserve Bank of India for a loan, depositing them under the Gold Monetisation Scheme, or both. Depositing them as gold bonds under the Gold Monetisation Scheme would yield an annual interest of 2.5% and this was the best offer before the board now, the TDB president said.
Mr. Vasu, who had attended the meeting of Devaswom boards convened by the Centre on August 22 to chalk out ways to tide over the crisis, said clarifications had been sought from the Union Finance Ministry on the loan and the gold scheme.
The TDB president said the gold that was not being used for daily temple rituals, and which did not have antique value, would be pledged against the loans or used in the scheme. The gold would have to be melted, purified, and then deposited in the RBI.
Pointing out that there was opposition from some quarters to the initiative, Mr. Vasu said the TDB would approach the High Court after evaluation of the gold and seek its permission to go ahead. The High Court has to grant permission for any high-value transaction by the Devaswom boards for non-temple utilisation.