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Indian Temple Deposits Record 1,800 Kilos In Gold "Offerings"
The Indian people are known for their generosity (and love of gold) which makes the following news even more intriguing. For the first time in two years, The Economic Times reports, a record-breaking 1,800 kg of gold offerings - made by devotees of deity Lord Venkateswara at the famous hill shrine at Tirumala - was deposited this week with the State Bank of India. This donation takes the total deposits made by the well-known temple (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD)) to more than 5,000 kg. What is even more fascinating, under the SBI Gold Scheme, IB Times reports, TTD will earn one percent of gold as interest.
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has created record for the biggest gold depositor in State Bank of India (SBI) on Saturday, when it deposited devotees' gifts to deity Sir Venkateswara Swamy, including 1,800 kgs of gold.
...
"TTD has not made any gold deposits in the last two years as the banks have stopped accepting gold due to restrictions imposed by the RBI. After negotiating with various banks, SBI has first come forward to accept the gold deposits at one per cent interest rate per annum and we welcomed it," he added.
...
TTD already has pure gold deposits of 4,335 kgs in SBI, Corporation Bank and Indian Overseas Bank. Saturday's gold deposit in SBI is for a period of five years under 'Gold Deposit Scheme'. As part of a tradition, devotees present the deity gold, silver and cash everyday.
According to a report in The Hindu, the Government Mint in Mumbai will melt the gold, and pure gold of 0.995 will be taken as deposit. For the gold deposit, SBI will bear the transportation, transit insurance, melting and refining charges.
TTD earns a collective annual interest of 70 kgs of gold on gold deposits in the aforementioned banks.
On the 1,800 kgs gold deposit, TTD will earn one percent of gold as interest, Gopal said. The decorative ornaments gifted to the deity will remain with the temple, he added.
* * *
RBI tried its best but between smuggling and paying premiums, the Indian people got their gold and gifted it...
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I need me a temple....
Whoa! Wrong temple guys!
Give it to me..:
DoChenVenkateswaraRollingBearing!
1. Long tungsten
2. long tungsten
3. Germany getting their tungsten
4. hi-leveraged long tungsten
"under the SBI Gold Scheme .. TTD will earn one percent of gold as interest" ...
... for twenty years or so
after which, we are regretting to inform you that the "principal" deposit has somehow disappeared
we are looking into it, and apologize for any inconvenience
hugs,
how a ponzi works, dot com
5 tons ?
Dear SafelyGraze . I am a representative from the State Bank of India. I take great offense to your remark, insinuating the 1500 kilo's of temple gold on deposit is jeopardy. I assure you nothing could be further from the truth. The aforementioned 1200 kilos is in the safest of hands. Here at State Bank of India pride our selves on integrity and security. You ask any one of our helpful and courteous staff and they will assure you the 800 kilos is still here.
Kumar
canary:
you're hired.
"HASSAN CHOP!"
Does this mean that the bankster just received 1,800 tons of fresh physical gold to lease in the market?? If that’s the case, then expect a major gold price take down to come very soon.
The price of gold is determined by newly printed money, not actual gold. Silly rabbit.
1800 kilos
....5.4.3.2.1 and is gone. It was offered to god so god took it.
If they are using a fractional ratio of 1000 to 1, then it could be 1800 tonnes. But probably more of a 100:1 ratio as used by the LBMA.
"We are doing God's work."
.................Lloyd Blankfein
Yep, question is what is that bank doing with the gold in order to pay out that lofty 1%? And how many times they are doing it?
Repothicating-indians!
I'm sorry, but I need to step in here and say this might be one of the all-time greatest ZH articles I have ever read. It's so goddamned perfect at so many levels, I may just pee myself. Getting all that gold and then giving it to a fucking bank to hold for safe-keeping.
It's stunning. It's a greek tragedy unfolding before our very eyes.
I.... I.... I am literally at a loss for words.
Popcorn. I need popcorn! Stat!
Will Lord Venkateswara bless me and mine if I leave my Gold in my safe and say nice things about him?
I hope so.
Oyyyyyy Vey
If you dont hold it - We OWN it
sheeeeeeech dont you ever talk to the Gremans
No shit.
What did they get in return? A stamped passbook?
I'm not surprised.
The brightest were apparently imported to revolutionize the pc with Win8 and tweek fleaBay, Facebunk, etc...
It's so funny it hurts and it hurts so bad I'm LMAO.
Given: [1] "Possession is 9/10 of the Law in a Law-abiding society"
[2] "Possession is 10/10 of the Law in a Law-less society"
Req'd: Solve equations [1] and [2] for "Retaining perpetual possession of Precious Assets, when in Trust with another"
Solution: ?
Reward: Winner gets Nobel Prize in Economics
The Indian government is learning quickly. Pretty soon all the temples will be lining up to "deposit" their gold with the banks.
You can only exploit the masses as long as they trust you.
Once you lose that trust, you're gonna need guns and ammo, which you should have been acquiring with the exploits of the trust of the masses.
If it had been desposited in the NY Fed or Fort Knox then it would be gone already. Gone in 60 seconds. Repalced by tungsten and gold painted bricks not BRICS.
The current head of India's central Bank is a product of the IMF. Remember India's central bank recent decision to "purify" their physical gold holding by swaping their physical stock with gold based in London. My reading here is that India's central bank is controle by the Anglo-American banking cartel and will do what they are told. I fear that the manipulators just put their durty hands on 1,800 tons of fresh physical gold so that they can further manipulate the market. That would easily enable them to reach their $1050 price objective and keep it there for a good year or more. Anybody else read this story in a different way?
Nope
A fool & their gold - are soon parted
Like I said above
Just ask the Germans
Tabarnaque, it's kilograms...not tons. But good point just the same.
Ops! My mistake! Many thanks for that and sorry for sounding the alarm!
RBI plans to request Tirupati, Shirdi shrines to sell their gold pile to rescue Re fall - Economic Times
The Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, Shirdi Sai Baba temple in Maharashtra, Siddhivinayak at Mumbai and Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram are among the richest in India with huge reserves of gold and precious metals.
In fact, the roofs of many temples, such as the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, and Tirupati are covered with gold. RBI is counting on banks handling the accounts of these temple trusts to convince them to convert their huge gold deposits into cash, the bankers said.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-08-31/news/41642234_1_...
Ok, I'll ask, who collects the "offerings"?
headlines tomorrow
JPM buys State Bank of India
You remember that ZH picture of that Indian dude with the gold-woven shirt and Mr. T gold chains hanging around his neck? That guy.
E.T.
We throw the gold into the air, and whatever god wants, he keeps.
That's pretty funny, actually.
I doubt many ZHers will be doing any 'offering'!
I prefer the bid.
OMG... what is this Venkateswara the patron saint of.... naivety?
patron saint of boating.
Most excellent!
No shit. Who the fuck in their right mind or wrong mind would give/lend/bequeath their gold for 1 fucking percent? The Indians without water/boating access....will simply state...it/my PMs is/ are with the Gods now...fuck you, please, kind sir.
Have you seen the Ganges river? Would you want to dive down in that thing to get your gold?
http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictures/filthy-india-photos-chinese-neti...
Late to the show here, but you never heard of the "Shit River" at Subic Bay, have you? Kids diving into it for piasters and it makes the Ganges look like Evian on tap.
Totally agree. They are going to get so fucking screwed on this deal, it's going to be epic.
The end result could be very negative for every gold investors as the bullion cartel just got their dirty hands on a fresh 1,800 tons of physical supply. That's enough ammo for them to keep manipulating the price for at least another year.
Kilograms...not tons.
Yep got it! Sorry for that and thanks again. I guess that I just made a fool of myself today. I did not read the article carefully. This being said, it doesn't change my views on the current head of India's central bank. The gold will be leased and sold in the physical market. The temple will receive another paper claim on gold that will be nowhere to be seen.
THis hread gives new meaning to the term Comedy Gold.
Around abouts 1760 ounces a year interest. That's a pretty good return.
It's not return ON investment - it's whether there will ever be return OF investment. Me thinks not.
You're right. And it's more like 2500 ounces of gold that they will have to find to pay the interest. Maybe it's cash in kind.
Pyramid scheme - until it's not
Yup, yup, yup. I think that a Return ON vs. Return OF Investment here, ranks right up there with investing in Detroit real estate (rental property).
Somewhere in Germany, somebody is yelling "Fuck the Federal Reserve" at the top of their lungs.
not Vlad. Vlad is laughing at this.
I'm sure Jack Lew is talking to Pakistan about how to get that Gold.
Hey! This worked for Madoff for a while too. Old Venk gets to see his gold heading to China!
"the Indian people got their gold and gifted it.."
What a bunch of suckers.
Do they at least get a charitable gift tax deduction? If they get suckered out of.... I mean donate enough can they pull those deductions forward?
No, but they are guaranteed not to be reincarnated as bankers.
Donations to religious institutions are not tax exempt in India. In fact, while minority religious institutions are exempt from income tax, majority religious (Hindu) institutions, have to pay tax on the income received.
Give your gold to god--->Goldman Sachs doing god's work= Give your gold to Goldman
"And it's gone!"
Oh, my GAAAAWD, yes. In the front door and straight out the back! That shit left the building 10 minutes after it entered.
Tank you come again!
Hmmm. I'll bet somehow this gold makes it to the LBMA or COMEX. Then the Indians get to buy it all again.
brilliant. I really need to start a bank. Or a cult.
Maybe both.
Quus Ant: Lover of Large Women
Banks and Cults...both monopolies. Better luck competing against Facebook...try Peckerbook or Snatchreader.
There is a monopoly on cults and religions, really? I thought pretty much anyone can found one.
Anyone with gold tablets gifted by an angel, maybe.
Quus Ant: Giver of Truth
<-- King Solomon's Temple 2.0
<-- Temple of Doom
All Temple gold will make its way via the "Amazon river" of banking & finance to its final home, shown above
These temples received gold from honest believers ... and then gave it away to the bankers!?
The goddess I worship is making a face of disgust.
Fuck with that gold if you want to. Shiva the Destroyer will come for you.
I hear that Lord Venkateswara has it burning a hole in his pocket, however.
Zeus level facepalm.
Kind of a sad story. I would imagine the average worshipper wasn't very sophisticated and probably would have liked to have contributed to the temple; and it's good works ? Couldn't they have a charitable program and spruce up the idols or something? Seems like a shame to get a State Bank Involved in what started out as veneration for a saintly person.
Allow me to fill in the mythological background here.
This particular temple in Indian mythology holds great significance for all Vishnu fans.
You can read the story of this particular god on his wiki page lol, but the more interesting background that you only get from hearing stories is this little tidbit:
Kubera, the lord of wealth, lent Venkateswara his wedding money. The expense is of such magnitude that just the interest takes all of this Kali Yuga to pay off. So his worshippers pour their wealth with open hearts, to help the lord pay back his dues. He is known to be the richest god of them all, though only in name.
Hope that adds perspective to this sadness.
Seriously: I wonder if the 'donation' was agreed to with men holding machineguns in the room...
Can it be done? Can bankers figure out a way to swindle a billion Indian dirt farmers out of their life savings invested in a few pieces of gold jewelry?
In 70 years you will have twice as much gold. Compound interest is cool.
But if the temple ever wants their gold back, they will be told by this bank how many years they must wait...
I don't know about guys but I have turned myself into a deity of Vishnu. Therefore I have lots of gold already only now I am forgetful of my eternal self, the two handed form. Well, I guess you can't have everything. Hare Krishna.
Venkateshwara, an Avatar of Vishnu and the presiding deity at Tirumala, is deep in debt to the banker of Gods, Kubera. All the offerings of the devotees are supposed to pay off the God's debts. But it appears they are just enough to cover the interest and the principal is yet to be repaid even by a marginal amount. Make sure Kubera doesn't know about Vishnu's incarnation as you or he may want to collect his debt from you as well.
A devotee of Krishna has no debt. He knows dad, the Father, and therefore he is dead materially. He just serves Krishna. 24/7. That's it.
Many temples in India have much more gold than they use for decorating the deities during festivals, which is the primary use of gold for the temples. What the temples need more than gold is cash for their charitable and other activities. But devotess continue to drop off gold jewellery as offerings. This creates a problem for the temples. They cannot sell off the gold and convert it to cash, since their charters prohibit it. Keeping the gold safe, even the jewellery that is in regular use, is a major headache for temple managements. The largest shareholder in State Bank of India is the Government of India. So giving gold to SBI for safekeeping is equivalent to depositing it with the government for safekeeping. Sure, if SBI or the Government of India desperately needs the gold, they may renege on the promise to return it, but it is highly doubtful the TTD itself will ever need the gold back, so we will be unlikely to ever know whether the SBI/GOI keep the promise or not.
The god fund is one fund even the scummiest Indian politician won't touch. Superstition runs deep in that place. Or is my information out of date?
Superstitions come in many forms. Temple administrations are controlled by state appointed officers. The richer the temple, the greater the scramble for being the chief "trustee", a political appointee. It may not all be devotion that causes this scramble. The chief "trustee"s usually end up doing very well after they take up those positions. It may not all be divine grace. With myriads of Gods people may not feel too guilty about helping themselves to the funds of a God they are not too devoted to. They may even feel good about helping themselves to the funds of one God and contribute part of it to their favourite :-)
Now we're talking. ;-)
I knew there would be corruption among the pantheon.
p.s. superstition runs deep everywhere. For example, one of my local skateparks is by the Caltrain tracks - shit goes from San Jose to San Francisco, so trains are a plenty. When the train passes, some skaters will hold back from doing any tricks and chill while the train passes. Why? Cuz you eat shit if you try something while the train is passing. CURSE OF TRAIN!
Maybe the Indian politicians won't touch the money, but the international bankers (especially the central banks) have no such qualms and most certainly will attempt to seize every last ounce of that gold.
To GlobalObserver:
That was one hell of a rationalization !!!
You wrote, "Sure, if SBI or the Government of India desperately needs the gold, they may renege on the promise to return it, but it is highly doubtful the TTD itself will ever need the gold back, so we will be unlikely to ever know whether the SBI/GOI keep the promise or not."
The government of India desperately needs the gold RIGHT NOW, to pay for OIL imports and to sell the GOLD to the Indian people (thus reducing foreign imports of physuical goldand thereby reducing its tarde imbalances).
QUESTION: Simply because the "it is highly doubtful the TTD itself will ever need the gold back" (a questionable presumption at best), does that JUSTIFY the theft of that gold by SBI or the Indian government?
"Gee, Mr. Blankfein, you do not truly NEED your numerous mansions spread all over the globe, nor does your firm Goldman-Sachs really NEED the physical gold in its vaults, so I am certain you will not be upset by my seizure of those assets!"
All human were born and raised
To dig and stack
The fun part is
Who gets to
Control the stack
Big Stack
Jacobs Ladder
Rock On
But if you deposit Rupees, they'll give you around 10%. I think for gold. I'd want at least 20.
I'm calling bullshit. Think about it: 1800kg (4000lbs) was said deposited "after not making a deposit in two years". So, 4000lbs collected in 730 days = 5 1/2 lbs per day.
I do not believe this temple collects 5 1/2 lbs of gold every single day.... 40lbs a week... 170lbs a month. And further.... they say that ornamental gold was kept for display and not deposited.
Nope. Somethings not right.
With a population in 2014 of 1.27 Billion people, India is second only to China (with 1.36 Billion people).
Source: http://www.indiaonlinepages.com/population/india-current-population.html
The 1800 kg equals 3960 lbs, which equals 63, 360 ounces. Using today's gold price of $1290 USD per ounce, that comes to $ 81,734,400 USD ($81.7 million) total over a 2-year period OR $40,867,200 USD ($40.8 million) per year. Compared to annual sales of physical gold to private individuals in India, that is a pittance!!!
According to Vatican figures for 2013, there are an estimated 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world.
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-21443313
How much money and other assets are donated to the Roman Catholic Church every year? The answer: many BILLIONS in U.S. dollars. Further, the Vatican has enourmous real estate holdings in all major Western cities, and hold stocks in most of the larger multi-national companies, including international banks, along with total ownership of the so-called Vatican Bank (whose formal name is the "Institute for the Works of Religion.") In addition, the Roman Catholic Church owns hudreds of colleges and universities throughout the world, many with mulyi-billion dollar endowments. The University of Notre Dame, America's flagship Catholic university, has an annual budget of $1.2 billion and an endowment estimated at $7.5 billion. Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. (with its highly prestigious undergraduate college, law school, medical school and school of foreign relations) has an equally impressive endowment. It is estimated that American Catholics donate more than $8 billion every year into the Sunday collection plates Source: http://ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/churchs-deep-pockets-butl... And many European countries still impose a "church tax" based on a person's income. In Germany alone, the Roman Catholic Church netted $8.8 billion in 2010 from the national "church tax."
The assets of the Roman Catholic Church certainly total in the Trillions of dollars.
The Vatican refuses to release any financial data, but a lengthy report by The Economist last year said ANNUAL SPENDING by the Vatican and church-owned entities in the U.S. alone was about $170 billion in 2010.
Source: http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=1a685537-b674-462d-9189-21772d2f...
In short, the $40.8 million USD per year donated to the main temple in India over each of the last 2 years is TRIVIAL compared to the yearly donations, yearly Church spending and total assets of the Roman Catholic Church.
Ask Germany how the gold will play out.
As I recall, about one year ago the SBI requested that all gold held in temples AND the gold covering the domes of those temples be handed over to the Indian governmen ahd the SBI. The temples refused the request, so the SBI has few options, UNLESS it wished to spark a revolution.
My question:
WHY the change in policy by the leaders of these temples? Will the 1% interest on these gold deposits be paid in physical gold? And do the temples have the right to reclaim their physical gold at any time. What happens if the market price for physical gold skyrockets? Will the temples be able to reclaim their original physical gold deposits OR will they be paid off in greatly devalued rupees?
Sorry, but "I smell a rat." and its initials are "Goldman-Sachs".
Do you have links to articles dealing with that requests?
yes, i will happily trade my gold & silver for....ah....insanely overvalued stocks....insanely overvalued bonds....undeliverable futures contracts.......a house that i will be stuck with for years...... oh yes, gold & silver have peaked.
NOT.
how stupid. a religious temple lending its money to bankrupt money vultures and even charging interest for that (and a paltry 1% at that).
Jim Rogers was warning about that.
Amazing how jaded WE are because of what OUR government has done.....as we should be.
Everyone has to learn their own lessons, even today. Now about that big bubble in the markets....
Organized religion is for the birds...
The interest on the sacred gold will be paid off in sacred cow derrivatives by goldman.