The sacredness and economics of Tirumala Laddu

The world’s richest Hindu Shrine, ‘Tirumala Temple’ is revered as the most religious clime and the self manifested habitat of Lord Balaji. Lord Balaji has 108 sacred names including the other popular name, Venkateswara Swamy. Tirumala temple is administered by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD).

More than 1 lakh pilgrims visit the Temple every day and during festive seasons it quadruples. It is customary for all the media to transmit news related to the Temple daily. However, the recent news referring to a July 2024 report on ghee used in Tirumala laddu (blessed food) stirred a storm across India and sent shivers up the spines of several devotees.

Replacing the previous version of blessed food prevalent since year 1715, in the year 1940, an ardent devotee of Lord Balaji called Kalyanam Iyengar had formulated the recipe of Laddu for TTD. It has several names such as Venkanna Laddu, Tirupati Laddu, Srivari Laddu, Lakshmi Prasadam, and Tirumala Laddu. Since then, distribution of Laddu as a gift to the devotees visiting Tirumala temple became an onus on the part of the temple. Tirumala has proliferated the distribution of consecrated food at almost all Hindu religion temples and essentially including a laddu. Gradually lakhs of temples started distributing laddus as blessed food to the devotees. Interestingly, as the number of temples distributing laddus increased, so did the popularity, sanctity, and delight for the TTD Laddu. TTD Laddu has GI tag and is known across the world.

A pilgrimage to Tirumala essentially comprises of not only tasting Laddu, but also carrying few Laddus for distribution among the near and dears. In due course, it has become a religious belief that whoever visits the temple feels privileged to carry few Laddus to their family, friends, and even acquaintances.

Relishing a portion of the TTD Laddu is considered equivalent to a personal visit to Tirumala temple and receiving the god’s blessings. Besides being blessed food, TTD Laddu has huge popularity as one of the best sweet delicacies. It is no exaggeration to state that everyone loves this delicacy. There were few criticisms as well. They include Tirumala is popular because of the delicious Laddu, the price of Laddu ought to be lower, the Laddu ought to have more shelf life, the process of obtaining Laddu has to be less tedious, the Laddu could have packing, etc.

The economics of Laddu also commands great interest among the devotees due to its matchless taste and popularity. A regular size distributed Laddu is said to have 175 grams. The cost of its preparation is Rs. 40 to Rs. 42 per unit and is sold for Rs. 50 per unit. Every day about 3 to 4 lakhs of Laddus are sold. It is understood that Rs. 100 to Rs. 120 crores profit is earned by TTD from Laddus alone. The annual revenue from Laddus is about Rs. 600 crores which is part of TTD’s annual budget of Rs. 5,142 crores for the financial year 2024-25. Revenue from Laddus is 50% of income excluding offerings, interest income, and capital receipts. Thus, both religiously and monetarily, Laddus are the most important part of TTD.

The flavour and aroma of the Laddu comes mainly from the ghee which is fat derived from milk and is used to bind the ingredients to form the Laddu. Ghee also determines the shelf life of the Laddu. Every year, 5,500 to 6,000 tons of ghee is procured by TTD by floating tenders twice a year. TTD procures 65% from lowest (L1) and 35% from second lowest (L2). The critics opine that due to the L1 process the supplier who offered ghee at Rs. 320 a kilogram could win the contract while the market price of ghee is upward of Rs. 450 a kilogram. While doubts were expressed that L1would endeavor to minimize its cost or loss, the lab report as per the guidelines of ISO 17678:2019 revealed that the subject ghee has foreign fat which may include beef tallow and lard (fish fat).

While there is a possibility that all the above foreign fats may not have been present in the tested ghee, as per the said ISO, they should be suspected. This caused huge turmoil among more than 100 crores of people who revere TTD Laddu as god’s blessing. Impliedly, blessings can be wholesome only when the blessed food has pure ghee.

Now is the time to not only rectify the situation, but also to ensure that such instances would not repeat in the future. It is a collective responsibility to avoid propaganda and uphold the sacredness of TTD, which is one of the greatest pilgrimages.

Note: This article is not to disregard beliefs of any one either intentionally or unintentionally.

Disclaimer: Dr. Kishore Nuthalapati is an Economist, and is the CFO of BEKEM Infra Projects Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad, India. Views are his personal and do not reflect those of any of the organizations he is or was associated with.