INDIA WANTS ITS TEMPLES TO PART WITH THEIR GOLD

Workers for the centuries-old Shree Siddhivinayak Temple here spent hours unpacking gold coins, heavy wedding necklaces and lustrous pendants from a closely guarded “strong room.” By the time gold buyers began mingling with worshipers at the sweltering sanctuary on Tuesday, the jewelry auctioneers were ready.

“This is not a regular gold coin that you would buy from a gold shop — it contains the Lord’s blessing,” a temple board member said, holding up a tiny coin, probably left by a devotee years ago. It eventually sold for four times its face value.

Wealthy Hindu temples such as this one are repositories for much of the $1 trillion worth of privately held gold in India — about 22,000 tons, according to an estimate from the World Gold Council. In 2011, one temple in south India was found to have more than $22 billion in gold hidden away in locked rooms rumored to be filled with snakes. Another has enough gold to rival the riches stashed at the Vatican, experts say.

But little of it is contributing to the Indian economy, and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is looking to mon­etize India’s vast hidden wealth. In coming weeks, the government plans to begin a program that will allow temples to deposit their gold into banks to earn interest and circulate in the economy, rather than sit idle in musty vaults. The gold, officials say, would be melted down and sold to jewelers.

Indians’ love of gold dates back centuries, stemming from gold-giving rituals and gold-buying festivals. Brides are draped with gold, and gold-laden dowries are a traditional gesture that cost a life savings for many poorer families in rural India.

Many ancient temples have basement vaults that are rarely, if ever, opened.

During a dramatic court battle in 2011 over the riches in the 16th-century Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in the southern state of Kerala, a Supreme Court team discovered $22 billion worth of gold.

This huge treasure trove — sacks of coins, diamonds and other jewelry, gem-encrusted ceremonial garb and solid gold idols lying in cavernous cellars — was revealed after the court ordered the vaults opened in response to a petition accusing temple officials of mismanaging the wealth.

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