The gold monetisation scheme, aimed at persuading individuals, institutions and rich temples to deposit some of their gold stash with banks to recycle, has only attracted about one kg in a month out of a total hoard of over 20,000 tonnes.

But the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, popularly known as the Tirupati Temple that is believed to have been the abode of Lord Vekateswara for 5,000 years, may become the biggest contributor with more than 5.5 tonnes of gold.

Tirupati has already deposited most of its gold with banks under previous monetisation schemes that offer interest of about 1 percent, said D. Sambasiva Rao, executive officer of the trust that manages the temple.

"They (temple investment committee) will evaluate and whichever scheme is beneficial we are going to do that," he said, adding the temple will move its entire hoard to Modi's programme if convinced.

World's richest Hindu temple may move stash to Modi's gold scheme