The Hindu : National : A global symbol for Indian rupee soon

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Saturday, Feb 27, 2010
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National

A global symbol for Indian rupee soon

Vidya Subrahmaniam

NEW DELHI: Globally ascendant India will soon have a recognisable sign for the rupee comparable to the U.S. dollar, the British pound sterling, the Japanese yen, and the euro. This is one of the promises made by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget speech.

Mr. Mukherjee said the sign, to be formalised in the current fiscal, would be designed to “reflect and capture the culture and ethos” of the country. The rupee is currently referred to by the abbreviation Rs. or Re.

The search for a design actually started a year ago — in February 2009 — when the Ministry of Finance formally announced a public competition. The winning entry carried a prize of Rs. 250,000 and the deadline for the competition was April 15, 2009. Among the conditions laid down by the Ministry were: the symbol should represent the historical and cultural ethos of the country; it should be in the Indian national language script; and it should be keyboard-friendly.

Finance Ministry sources attributed the one-year gap between the announcement of the competition and Mr. Mukherjee’s mention of it in the budget to the process being long-winded and the need to hit upon a sign that would click on the international market. The sign must have high visual recall, which cannot be easy, given the twin challenges of its being Indian in spirit and yet representing the aspirations of the world’s fourth largest economy in PPP terms.

The European Commission, for instance, has this to say about the euro: “The success of the euro as a currency worldwide owes a small debt to the unique and memorable symbol of the currency.”

The Indian rupee coin goes back a long time, and is thought to have been introduced some time during the reign of Sher Shah Suri (1484-1545). Expectedly, the distinction of being the oldest recognised currency symbol goes to the pound sterling. Its use is said to date back to the 8th century, before the formation of the United Kingdom. The dollar sign, too, was already in use before the constitution of the United States.

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