The new symbol is also meant to differentiate the Indian Rupee from the rupee of Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Rupiah of Indonesia.
The symbol was designed by D Udaya Kumar, a graduate from IIT Bombay. The design got selected from 3,000 designs entered for the competition announced by the RBI. Udaya Kumar is awarded Rs. 2.5 lakh as a prize money.
It is planned that the symbol will be adopted in India within six months and all over the world within a year. The symbol however won’t be printed in the currency notes.
The announcement reflects desire of India to enter into the global economy and make presence known in the global arena.
D. Udaya Kumar, a research scholar from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), displays the new symbol he designed for the Rupee, which was approved by the Union Cabinet, in Mumbai on July 16, 2010.
Uday said, “I saw many regional language scripts but I thought many represented only one region of India. But the Devanagari script is the most extensively used in the country, so I decided to go with that.â€
He added, “The two horizontal lines and the band between also represent the Indian flag.â€
I have a new symbol for Indian currency which can be read/written by any person in the world. If govt. of India I will show that.
This Indian rupee symbol is not jus a symbol for us but it has even our country a unique and new identity.Hence its a good thing and i really appreciate Mr. Uday Kumar for that.Its such a nice creativity and a good design too…………….!!!!
Very good design. very nice creativity…… Congrats
A very good design. Simple and easy to write, set typeface and recognize. Good work Udaya kumar. My only grievance is that he didn’t choose a Tamil alphabet, but had he chosen a Tamil alphabet, he will not have made it to the finals. I am glad to hear that Mr. Udaya Kumar is doing research work on the evolution of Tamil alphabets. Kudos to you Mr. Udaya Kumar.