The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has resolved a major coin crisis at the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust (SSST) in Shirdi, according to sources in the central bank. The SSST had been facing a serious problem as banks struggled to accommodate the coins donated at the temple, which amounted to lakhs of rupees. The trust had accounts in 13 branches of various state-owned banks, with representatives of these banks visiting the temple by rotation to collect donations and deposit them in the banks.
On April 26, a functionary of the RBI’s Belapur office in Navi Mumbai held a meeting with the trust, attended by representatives of the 13 banks where the donation money was deposited. At the meeting, the RBI instructed bank officials to immediately divert the accumulated coins from their branches to the designated currency chests in Ahmednagar or neighboring districts. This would create space in the banks, allowing the fresh collection of coins from the temple to be kept there.
Currency chests provide daily feedback to RBI about the stock of currency notes and coins at the chests, enabling the central bank to monitor the spaces in the chests. If a chest runs out of space, its contents are moved to another chest where space is available. As far as RBI is concerned, the coin problem of Saibaba temple has been solved, said the functionary of the central bank.
SSST CEO Rahul Jadhav said the RBI’s intervention had helped to resolve the issue, adding that he hoped the four banks that had stopped collecting donations from the temple due to lack of space in their branches would now come forward as RBI had found a solution to the problem. The SSST has accounts in 13 banks, including 12 in Shirdi town and one in Nashik.
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The Coin Crisis at SSST
The Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust (SSST) in Shirdi had been facing a major coin crisis, with banks struggling to accommodate the coins donated at the temple. The trust receives lakhs of rupees as donations in coins of different denominations every month. The accumulated value of the coins in the 13 banks where the trust had accounts was over Rs 11 crore. Four state-owned banks had stopped collecting donations due to lack of space in their branches, while the remaining nine informed the trust management to find a solution.
RBI’s Intervention
A functionary of the RBI’s Belapur office in Navi Mumbai held a meeting with the trust and representatives of the 13 banks where the donation money was deposited on April 26. At the meeting, the RBI instructed bank officials to immediately divert the accumulated coins from their branches to the designated currency chests in Ahmednagar or neighboring districts. This would create space in the banks, enabling the fresh collection of coins from the temple to be kept there. Currency chests provide daily feedback to RBI about the stock of currency notes and coins at the chests, enabling the central bank to monitor the spaces in the chests. If a chest runs out of space, its contents are moved to another chest where space is available.
CEO’s Reaction
SSST CEO Rahul Jadhav welcomed the RBI’s intervention and expressed hope that the four banks that had stopped collecting donations from the temple due to lack of space in their branches would now come forward as RBI had found a solution to the problem. The SSST has accounts in 13 banks, including 12 in Shirdi town and one in Nashik. Representatives of these banks visit the temple by rotation to collect donations and deposit them in the banks.
Source: TOI
