Indian rupee gets its symbol

The union cabinet today approved a symbol for the Indian rupee. This symbol will be used by all individuals/entities within and outside India after its incorporation in `Unicode Standard', 'ISO/IEC 10646' and 'IS 13194'.

The symbol, which reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture, was selected from among 3,000 entries submitted by Indian citizens in a public competition.

The symbol selected has been designed by D Udaya Kumar an Indian Institute of Technology postgraduate, who is currently with the department of design at IIT Guwahati.

"My design is based on the `Tricolour' with two lines at the top and white space in between. I wanted the symbol for the rupee to represent the Indian flag. It is a perfect blend of Indian and Roman letters: a capital 'R', and Devnagari 'Ra', which represent rupiya, to appeal to international and Indian audiences. After working onthe design for few months, I shortlisted eight to 10 designs and then refined them further till I got this one," said Kumar. 

The entries were evaluated by a jury headed by the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and experts from three reputed art and design institutes as members. The entries were presented to the jury in such a manner that identity of the competitors was not revealed to the jury members. The jury shortlisted five final entries and also gave its evaluation of these five entries to the government to take a final decision.

The symbol will standardise the expression for Indian rupee in different languages, both within and outside the country. It would better distinguish the Indian currency from other currencies designated as rupee or rupiah, such as in Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.