Not UPI, lakhs of Balaji devotees still bank on money order for donations

Tirupati: India Post's money order system may have lost its preference in the digital transaction era, but for lakhs of devotees of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala, it still thrives.About 1.2 lakh devotees donated Rs 3.1 crore through money orders in 2025, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) executive officer Anil Kumar Singhal said. "Many of these devotees are from the remotest parts of the country who couldn't afford to travel to Tirumala. But they fulfilled their vows by sending their donations through money orders. Some even sent donations of Rs 10," Singhal said.In reciprocation, TTD sends the devotees the divine blessings of Lord Venkateswara and Goddess Padmavathi in the form of an Asirvachanam packet, containing a picture of Lord Balaji and His divine consort, sacred Akshata (booklet having 1,008 names of Lord Venkateswara), and a pack of Kumkum. "TTD spends Rs 20 lakh annually for this service, including postal dept charges," Singhal added.The temple trust had launched the Asivachanam scheme in 2009 to create a platform for devotees unable to visit Tirumala to extend their donations through money orders. Interestingly, despite the explosion of UPI payments, especially in the last decade, about 31.68 lakh devotees donated a whopping Rs 49.18 crore to TTD through money orders in 16 years.Over 2.6 crore devotees visited Tirumala temple and physically made donations of over Rs 1,380 crore in 2025, the temple trust received crores of rupees as donations through online mode too.V Upendra, postmaster general, Kurnool division, said the Asirvachanam scheme, which was jointly launched by the TTD and the postal dept , emerged as one of the most successful schemes through which devotees could extend donations to Lord Balaji through money order, and through electronic money order (eMO) or instant money order (iMO) post 2015, from any post office across the country. "On an average, about 500 e-MOs are delivered daily to TTD under this scheme. The initiative not only provides a meaningful service to devotees but also generates consistent revenue for the postal dept," Upendra added.CONVENTIONAL MODETTD launched Asirvachanam scheme in partnership with India Post in 2009 to facilitate donations through money order1.2L devotees from across the country donated Rs 3.1 cr to TTD through MO in 2025In the last 16 years since the launch of the scheme, 31.6L devotees donated Rs 49 cr to Tirumala templeTTD receives at least 500 money orders from across the country every single day