We will oppose govt's move to take over gold from temples: BJP
HYDERABAD: The BJP will oppose government's reported move to take into possession the gold belonging to some temples in a bid to mitigate the crisis caused by the yellow metal, Subramanian Swamy, former union minister and BJP leader said here on Saturday.
HYDERABAD: The BJP will oppose government's reported move to take into possession the gold belonging to some temples in a bid to mitigate the crisis caused by the yellow metal, Subramanian Swamy, former union minister and BJP leader said here on Saturday.
Recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the current account deficit is mainly on account of huge imports of gold, coal and higher cost of crude oil. Recently, RBI has also imposed certain curbs to discourage gold imports. All these measures were aimed at strengthening the rupee against the dollar.
"Government should not take gold from temples. These (acts) are anti-national. We will all oppose it. We will challenge it in the court. They already tried to gold-coat the Tirupati temple, but courts have stopped it," Swamy told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting here.
Referring to media reports that RBI is discussing with banks on how to convince temple trusts to deposit their hoard of idle jewellery that could be converted into bullion, Swamy said if the government is serious about solving the foreign exchange crisis, it should ask the people at the helm of affairs to return the deposits they made in foreign banks.
Earlier, delivering a lecture on 'Declining Rupee value-UPA Government Failure', Swamy suggested that RBI should take initiative to sell at least $20 billion of its foreign reserves to tame dollar.
"They should do it in one blow so that it comes down to Rs 50 (per dollar) in which ways all these profiteers will lose their wealth," Swamy opined. Currently the dollar is trading at Rs 65.70.
He also suggested that the Government should abolish P-Notes which are said to be root cause for the forex crisis. P-Notes or participatory notes are the instruments used by investors or hedge funds that are not registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to invest in Indian securities.
The BJP leader said these notes are one of the reasons for rupee fall and hence the government should discourage them.
Describing the UPA government as "failure" in handling the financial crisis, Swamy opined that large-scale corruption has contributed to rupee fall.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-08-31/india/41641133_1_subramanian-swamy-gold-imports-bjp-leaderRBI -Tool of Congress to demolish hinduism
MUMBAI : With all efforts to arrest the rupee's slide coming to a naught, policymakers now plan to knock on the doors of temples — from Tirupati to Shirdi — seeking a boon to feed Indians' fetish for gold without importing it.
The Reserve Bank of India, which has been making gold imports more difficult through a series of restrictions, is discussing with banks on how to convince temple trusts to deposit their hoard of idle jewellery that could be converted into bullion, said two bankers familiar with the matter.
They refused to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the issue. 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.
No certainty of any deal
But there is no certainty of any deal with the temple trusts, given the diverse nature of these trusts and the local politics involved. "The idea is that a designated bank may buy gold from a temple trust and the ornaments will be converted into bullion. These may be bought by RBI by selling rupees," said one of the bankers quoted above. RBI did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Gold imports worth $53.6 billion last year are blamed for the rupee's slide, accounting for 61% of the current account deficit in fiscal 2013. Although the government and RBI acknowledged that high inflation provoked investors to chase gold, both have of late been trying to discourage imports of the precious metal. The rupee lost nearly a quarter of its value this year, but has since recovered.
"The finance minister and RBI governor should jointly — and immediately — approach the trustees of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD)," said Jamal Mecklai, chief executive of Mecklai Financial. "Three of these (trustees) are state government appointees, and given the current political dispensation this is a distinct advantage. They should, of course, offer prayers. That will be an opportunity for the hugely rich trusts to make additional amounts of money."
Tirupati is among the world's richest temples with an estimated gold hoard of about 1,000 tonnes, nearly double of India's estimated imports this year. The country, as a whole, is estimated to have a gold stock of 18,000-30,000 tonnes. The temple trusts, however, do not seem inclined towards such a plan, at least for now.
"There are no plans to do such a thing. There have no discussions with RBI," said a spokesman at TTD. Some banks run gold deposit schemes where individuals deposit the yellow metal for 3-7 years.
