Hyderabad: A laddu at a Keerthi Richmond Villa in Bandlaguda on the outskirts of Hyderabad fetched a whopping Rs 1.26 crore by breaking all records in an auction held on Thursday.
Last year, the laddu was sold for about Rs 65 lakh.
The auction for the laddu Prasad (sacred offering) at Richmond Villa in Sun City, fetched the highest bid from a five families residing there.
The money raised from the auction is used for charity purposes including for schools, health care, and supply of groceries to NGOs, according to the organisers.
It is a tradition in the Telugu-speaking states to auction laddu made for Lord Ganesh and the winner is believed to get god's special blessing in form of the prasadam.
The winning bid was the highest for a laddu prasadam across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The second-highest winning bid in Telangana was the Hyderabad’s most popular Balapur Ganesh laddu, which fetched Rs 27 lakh during the auction held on the final day of the Ganesh idol immersion today.
The 21-kg ‘Bangaru laddu’ (Golden laddu), was won by Dasari Dayanand Reddy of Turkayamjal in (Ranga Reddy district), on the outskirts of Hyderabad, in an open auction organized by Balapur Ganesh Utsav Samithi.
The auction that began at Rs.1,116 saw competitive bidding by 36 persons including Balapur non-locals.
Every year, the auction is held on the final day of the Ganesh idol immersion
However, last year, the laddu fetched Rs 24.6 lakh. The auction was won by Vengeti Laxma Reddy of VLR builders.
In 1994, the laddu was auctioned at Rs. 450. Every year, the auction amount increased and today, it reached Rs. 27 lakh. (UNI)