Mumbai: One of the most popular temples in India may soon make the first substantial contribution to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to recycle tonnes of idle bullion to reduce imports and the country's current account deficit.Devotees of the temple, which is often frequented by Bollywood stars, mostly seemed to support the decision. It is used for investment, religious donations and wedding gifts.Out of the 10 devotees Reuters spoke to at the temple premises, only one was not in favour of the scheme. Modi wants temples to deposit some of this with banks, in return for interest and cash at redemption. Mumbai's two-century-old Shree Siddhivinayak temple (Photo: PTI/File) The temple is considering depositing some of its 160 kg of gold with banks. The monetisation scheme has so far met with a tepid response.India's temples have collected billions of dollars in jewellery, bars and coins over the centuries, hidden securely in vaults.Modi launched the scheme to tap a pool of over 20,000 tonnes China wholesale electric instant heating water faucet of gold held by Indian households and temples.Mumbai's two-century-old Shree Siddhivinayak temple, devoted to the Hindu elephant-headed god Ganesha, is considering depositing some of its 160 kilogrammes (kg) of gold with banks, according to a spokesman.

We are planning to melt 40 kg of jewellery with lower purity to make bars and deposit those bars under the gold monetisation scheme," Sanjiv Patil, executive officer of the temple trust told Reuters on Wednesday. The country's insatiable appetite meant imports of the precious metal accounted for 28 percent of India's trade deficit in the year ending March 2013."Under the old scheme we were getting 1 percent interest.India is the world's second-biggest consumer of gold after China. So we think this is good scheme," he said, adding that the temple will deposit the jewellery that it failed to auction.

Once devotees offer ornaments, it is the trust's decision to decide what is good for the trust," said Rakesh Kapoor, a New Delhi-based businessmen, who visits the temple every time he is in Mumbai.The Siddhivinayak temple has in the past given 10 kg of gold to a bank under an old deposit scheme, Patil said.The deposit would be a big boost for the gold monetisation scheme that has attracted only one kg in its first month. 

People may reconsider offering jewellery if the trust starts doing that," said Madhuri Deshpande, a regular visitor."I don't think the trust should melt offered jewellery to make bars.A final decision will be made later this month, he said

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