Information Madness

The Indian rupee now has a unique symbol. A blend of the Devanagri 'Ra' and Roman 'R' joining elite currencies like the US dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen in having a distinct identity. The new symbol, designed by Bombay IIT post-graduate D Udaya Kumar, was approved by the cabinet Yesterday. It reflecting that the Indian currency, backed by an over-trillion dollar economy, was finally making its presence felt on the international scene.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters after the cabinet meeting, "It's a big statement on the Indian currency... The symbol would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency and further highlight the strength and global face of the Indian economy".
Soni said that the symbol, which reflects the Indian ethos and culture, would help distinguish the currency from the rupee or rupiah of other countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Kumar's entry was chosen from 3,000 designs competing for the currency symbol. He will get an award of Rs 2.5 lakh.
"It is a perfect blend of Indian and Roman letters — capital 'R' and Devanagri 'Ra' which represents rupaiah, to appeal to international and Indian audiences... My design is based on the tricolour, with two lines at the top and white space in between," a visibly-happy Kumar said.

It you thinking that how will the rupee be typed, don't worry, India is a member of the Unicode Consortium and getting an approval for the new symbol shouldn't be too difficult. In fact the new symbol had been designed keeping in mind the ease with which it can be incorporated into the existing software systems.

The Unicode Technical Committee meets on a quarterly basis and the next meeting is scheduled for October. Some developers are already developing fonts that will include the symbol for the in-between time.