Indian Rupee gets new unique & universal identity

New Delhi, Jul 15: The Union Cabinet has finalised the much awaited new rupee symbol, I&B minister, Ambika Soni announced in a press conference on Thursday, Jul 15.

"This symbol will universally denote the Indian Rupee," said the minister waving a print out of the approved symbol.

The symbol finalised by a five-member jury panel among the five designs shortlisted incorporates the Devanagari 'Ra" as well as the Roman capital 'R" in the design.

With the new symbol, the Indian Rupee has entered the elite club of currencies such as Dollar, Euro and Pound with their very own symbols.

The symbol designed by an IIT post-graduate, D Udaya Kumar, had been approved by the jury and was put before the Cabinet for approval. The design that brings together Devanagari as well as Roman letter fit the description of what the government expected.

"In the ensuing year, we intend to formalise a symbol for the Indian rupee, which reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while tabling the Union Budget 2010-11 in the Parliament.

Inspired by the growing influence of the Indian rupee in global markets, the proposal to introduce a symbol for the Indian rupee first came up in 2009.

The finance ministry, which sought entries from the public, is learnt to have received over 3,000 designs, out of which five were shortlisted earlier.

Until now, the Indian rupee had been denoted by abbreviations like 'Rs' or 'Re', which were not unique in nature as it was used to represent the currencies of Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka as well.

OneIndia News