The symbol, designed by D Udaya Kumar, a graduate from IIT Bombay was selected from 3,000 designs entered for the competition announced by the RBI to find a symbol for the Rupee. Udaya Kumar will be awarded Rs. 2.5 lakh by the Finance Ministry.
The 'Indian Rupee' symbol is to be adopted within six months in India and all over the world in about 24 months. The new symbol will not be embossed on coins or printed on currency notes.
The Indian Rupee symbol will find it's way into the 'Unicode Standard' so that computer users all over the world can use it.
''The decision to give an identifiable and distinct symbol to the Indian currency has been taken in view of the fact that the country's economy has been expanding at a sustained rate of growth, and steadily integrating with global economy,'' Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni told reporters here after a meeting of the Union Cabinet which approved the symbol.
The Minister said the symbol would standardise the expression for Indian Rupee in different languages, both within and outside the country, and distinguish the currency from those of other countries such as Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia whose currencies are also designated as Rupee or Rupiah.
