The design is the brainchild of Bombay IIT postgraduate D Udaya Kumar, who met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee after the cabinet approved the symbol.
More than a year after the government announced a competition for coming up with a symbol for the rupee, the country finally has a distinct identity for its currency. The Union cabinet on Thursday approved a symbol which is a combination of the Roman ‘R’ without the vertical stroke and the Devnagri letter ‘ra’. The design is the brainchild of Bombay IIT postgraduate D Udaya Kumar, who met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee after the cabinet decision.
But no decision has been taken to emboss the new symbol on currency notes, Union information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni said during a cabinet briefing. A finance ministry official said the government is not planning to print currency notes with the symbol. While the pound sterling symbol is displayed on British banknotes, the dollar sign is not on US notes. Neither do Euro notes bear the symbol.
Although the UPA government is talking of a six-month period for the adoption of the rupee symbol within the country and 18 months to two years for international use, it is still early to figure out how this will be translated into reality.
The symbol will standardise the expression for the rupee in different languages, both within and outside the country. Also, it would better distinguish the currency from that of countries whose currencies are also designated rupee or rupiah — Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
But like all things big, the rupee symbol comes with a dose of controversy. An RTI query has been filed over the selection process of the currency symbol for it not being a fair and transparent process. According to the RTI applicant, not everyone in the jury was present while selecting the symbol. Soni said the RTI query was not discussed in the cabinet meeting.
A special jury, comprising representatives of the Union government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and prominent art institutes like the National Institute of Design and the JJ Institute of Applied Art, presented the final choice to the cabinet after several rounds of short-listing.
The short-listed of five included urban designer Nondita Correa-Mehrotra, the daughter of architect Charles Correa. Other finalists included an employee of advertising and communication major JWT, and a creative designing consultant.
The response to the competition was overwhelming, with 2,468 people/organisations found eligible for the first round. In the second round, 176 candidates were announced. The winner has won a cheque of Rs2.5 lakh. Of course, the real honour lies in creating history.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}