Not a Hair-Y Auction

MSTC bags e-auction contract from Tirupati for selling jewellry & sourcing items - The Economic Times: "KOLKATA: Of all the rags-to-riches stories in the country, MSTC Limited's rise from a metal scrap exporter to one of India's largest e-commerce firms is a rare case of divine blessings bestowing directly on a state-owned company. MSTC, a little-known Kolkatabased PSU, last fiscal helped TirumalaVenkateswara Temple, the country's busiest temple, raise about Rs 250 crore by selling tonnes of tonsured hair of devotees to wigmakers across the world through online auctions.


Buoyed, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, which administers the temple, now plans to take the same route to sell gold and silver jewellery from its famed hundi, or collection pot, where silver donations often exceed 500 kg a year. "For the first time, we are planning to start e-auctions of gold and silver jewellery offered by devotees. A high-level committee has been formed to fix the price according to purity of the metal," a TTD official said. So how come an unglamorous public sector company won the blessings of Lord Balaji, in one of the richest temples? "

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