TIRUPATI: Regardless of low pilgrim footfalls, hundi (Parakamani) collection at Srivari temple in Tirumala has been registering a constant boost.

The hundi income received in February this year is reasonably higher compared to the matching period in the last two years.As per official figures, TTD netted an income of Rs 93.96 crore through offerings made by enthusiasts in the hundi last month.

The share of e-Hundi (online cash offerings) in this was Rs 3.51 crore.

The majority share of the total offerings was from Srivari Hundi at Tirumala temple, which was Rs 90.45 crore.

On an average, around 50,000 fans have actually been having darshan of Lord Venkateswara every day in the last couple of months.

In the pre-Covid times, this figure was at least 75,000 pilgrims a day.

As many as 19.93 lakh and 21.68 lakh fans had darshan of Lord Balaji in February 2019 and February 2020 respectively.

The matching hundi collections were Rs 83.44 crore and Rs 89.07 crore of offerings.In February this year, nevertheless, the number of followers who had darshan of the Lord dipped to 14.41 lakh.

The income gotten through Srivari hundi increased to Rs 90.45 crore.

The hundi signed up 8 percent and 1.5 percent increase in income when compared to figures of February 2019 and 2020 respectively, despite the pilgrim count declining by 27 percent and 33.5 percent respectively.

TTD's income has stabilised now, as the daily hundi collection has reached the pre-Covid-19 levels.

It has increased a couple of folds than the pre-Covid times.

Now, the day-to-day hundi collection is anywhere in between Rs 3 crore to Rs 3.5 crore , a TTD authorities said.Another senior official remarked that the existing year has been very amazing, as donations and Srivari Hundi offerings have been tape-recording a considerable growth compared to previous year.

He revealed his joy that the hill shrine is now providing a practically normal picture like in pre-Covid days.

With regard to Anna Prasadam to fans, around 21.07 lakh devotees have been provided Anna prasadams in February this year, while 43.94 lakh and 48.40 lakh fans took pleasure in the prasadam in February 2019 and 2020 respectively.Similarly, around 82.38 lakh and 83.91 lakh laddus had actually been sold to fans throughout that period, as versus 76.61 lakh laddus in February this year.

In all, 6.72 lakh enthusiasts got tonsured at Tirumala in February this year, as against 6.70 lakh and 7.77 lakh during the exact same duration in 2019 and 2020 respectively.