RUPEE - New Symbol

The Ministry of India had organised a symbol design competition with a prize money of Rs 2.5 lakh with the condition that it should be applicable to the standard keyboard, be in the national language script or a visual representation and should represent the historical and cultural ethos of the country.


IIT post-graduate D.Udaya Kumar’s design has been chosen from among five shortlisted symbols and recommended it for Cabinet approval. The jury has given its verdict that the rupee will retain its Indian character with an international flavour. The basic aim of the new symbol is to provide Indian Rupee an international recognition to isolate the currency from the current abbreviation "Rs", which also used by neighboring countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Kumar’s symbol is an amalgam of the Devanagari ‘Ra’ and the Roman capital ‘R’ without the stem, very much in line with what Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had envisioned. “We intend to formalise a symbol for the Indian rupee which reflects and captures Indian ethos and culture,” Mukherjee said in his Budget speech this year.

Kumar's concept is based on the Tricolor and arithmetic equivalence and now he is going to join IIT Guwahati as a faculty member in the Department of Design.