CHETTIKULANGARA, KERALA, INDIA, August 21, 2011 (livemint.com): Every month, officials of Dhanalaxmi Bank collect hundreds of thousands of coins from the hundis (donation box) of 2,100 temples from across the state and exchange the coins for paper currency with vendors–shopkeepers, retail malls, local bus companies and government clients. The currency is then deposited into the temple’s account.
Dhanalaxmi Bank bills itself as “God’s own bank in God’s own country.” Founded by brahmins in 1927 to help fund marriages in the community, it soon started providing special services to temples. Now one of India’s fastest-growing private-sector banks, it also has the largest number of religious institutional clients. The bank is now pursuing business relationships with churches and mosques as well. Muralidharan R., chief operations officer, says the bank has developed “a unique skill in understanding and catering to the banking needs of religious institutions” and “we would never want to let go of this advantage wherever we go.”