Rs 33.46 crore income from hair offerings

Over 60 lakh devotees from across India and abroad had their heads tonsured during this period, TTD sources told PTI on Thursday.

TTD sources said for the first time in the history of the temple, women barbers would be hired for the benefit of women devotees.

Income from human hair offerings has been rising each year, following heavy demand from giant wig manufacturers in the US, UK, Malaysia and Australia, sources said.

The present TTD income through human hair auction was more than the total TTD budget of 1982, they said. The holy tonsure centre, believed to be the world's biggest and called the 'Venkateswara Kalyana Katta', has 500 barbers working round-the-clock.