The Indian rupee is all set to get its own unique symbol, joining the club of other international currencies, such as, dollar, pound sterling, euro and the yen as currencies with an identity that is recognizable worldwide.
On 5 March 2009 the Indian Government announced a contest to create a sign for the Indian rupee. During the Union Budget 2010, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee mentioned that the proposed sign would reflect and capture the Indian ethos and culture. Five signs had been shortlisted from around 3000 responses received and one of them was to be finalized at the Union Cabinet meeting held on 24 June 2010. The decision was deferred by a request of the Finance Minister, and it was decided when they met again on 15 July 2010, and selected the symbol created by Indian Institutes of Technology alumnus D Udaya Kumar.
The new sign is a amalgam of the Devanagari "र" and the Roman capital "R" without the stem. The parallel lines at the top (with white space between them) make an allusion to the tricolor Indian flag.
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