The world's richest Hindu temple is asking to be repaid in gold for longer-term deposits it makes under the Indian government's monetization scheme in order to make the plan more attractive to the temples that are sitting on thousands of tonnes of the metal.

"We want returns in gold because if the prices of gold go higher than the monetary benefit that we will get, then devotees will blame us for depositing the gold at a cheaper rate," Rane said in his local language.