Tirupathi Balaji [Thiruvengadamudayan] given a demat account !!!!!

Thirumala Tirupathi, uttering or even hearing the divine name would bring benefits to all.  Thiruvengadam, [Sapthagiri, Elumalai; Seven Hills]  the abode of Lord Balaji would ever remain as the ‘Thilakam’ the shining glory of the whole Earth.  Thirumala has existed for Centuries and Lord Venkateshwara is always the most benevolent, provider of  all riches, all wealth and all goodness to all His believers.  Lakhs of devotees from all over the Country and from other parts of the World throng to the hills, by walk, by vehicles of various hues and wait in the queue for hours to have a glimpse of the Lord. The sacred and most reverred temple of Sri Venkateswara is located on the seventh peak – Venkatachala hill of Tirumala.  The Lord stands tall as bestower of all boons.  This beautiful temple in its present form owes a lot to the works of the greatest Vaishnava Acharya – Sri Ramanujar.  

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams [TTD]  is an independent trust managing the temple at Thirumala.  The Trust is  involved in various social, religious, literary and educational activities.  TTD was established in 1932 as a result of the TTD Act of 1932. TTD provides various services for pilgrims to Tirumala and Tirupati including bus services, food and accommodation for pilgrims.

A couple of decades ago, dealing in shares was the priority of elite few. Shares were sold & bought in various exchanges with brokers shouting it out and exchanging physical scrips, which was a tedious process.  Now the shares and securities are held electronically in a dematerialized ("Demat") account,  which has eliminated  the hassles of holding physical certificate and the cumbersome procedure of transfer of shares. These demat accounts are held with Depository Participant (DP) who act as an intermediary between the investor and the depository. A DP is typically a financial organization like a bank, broker, financial institution, or custodian acting as an agent of the depository to make its services available to the investors. These depository participants are registered with SEBI.

ET & TOI report that in a first of its kind, Lord Balaji of Tirumala has been given  a demat account in his name now ! ……  In perhaps the first of its kind donation facility in the world, the TirumalaTirupatiDevesthanams (TTD) has opened a demat account to accept donations in the forms of shares and securities.   Reports state that 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.  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.  There are more than two croredemat 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.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

5^th Aug 2015.