The Union
Cabinet today approved the symbol for the Indian Rupee. This symbol will be used
by all individuals/entities within and outside India after its
incorporation in `Unicode Standard’, ‘ISO/IEC 10646’ and ‘IS 13194’.
A public
competition was held amongst resident Indian citizens inviting entries for the
symbol, which reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture. Over 3000 entries were received, which were
evaluated by a Jury headed by the Deputy Governor, RBI, which also included
experts from three reputed art and design Institutes. The entries were presented to the Jury in such
a manner that identity of the competitors was not revealed to the Jury
members. The Jury selected five final
entries and also gave its evaluation of these five entries to the Government to
take a final decision.
The symbol
will standardize the expression for Indian Rupee in different languages, both
within and outside the country. It would
better distinguish the Indian currency from those countries whose currencies
are also designated as Rupee or Rupiah, such as Pakistan, Nepal, Sri
Lanka and Indonesia.
The symbol
will be included in the “Unicode Standard” for representation and processing of
text, written in major scripts of the world to ensure that the Rupee symbol is
easily displayed/printed in the electronic and print
media as all the software companies provide support for this Standard. Encoding in the Unicode Standard will also
ensure encoding in the International standard ISO/IEC 10646 as both the
organizations work closely with each other.
The symbol
will also be included in the Indian Standards, viz. 13194:1991 – Indian Script
Code for Information Interchange (ISCII) through an amendment to the existing
list by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
The ISCII specifies various codes for Indian languages for processing on
computers along with the key-board lay outs.
After
encoding of the symbol in the Unicode Standard and National Standard, NASSCOM
will approach software development companies for incorporating the Rupee symbol
in their operative software, as a new programme or as
an update, to enable the computer users worldwide to use the symbol even if it
is not embedded on the keyboards (in a similar manner, we use the Euro symbol,
which is not embedded in the keyboards in use in India).
For incorporating
the symbol in the keyboards to be manufactured in India, the Manufacturers’
Association for Information Technology (MAIT) will enjoin its membership to
make requisite changes in the production processes once the symbol is notified
as a keyboard standard by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
The State
Governments would be impressed upon to encourage the use of the new Rupee
symbol and proactively promote its use.
The
encoding of the rupee symbol in the Indian Standards is estimated to take about
six months while encoding in the Unicode and ISO/IEC 10646 will take about 18
months to two years. It will be
incorporated in software packages and keyboards in use in India.
The symbol
for the Rupee would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency
and further highlight the strength and robustness of the Indian economy as also
a favored destination for global investments.
BACKGROUND :
In view of
the fact that the Indian economy has been expanding at a sustained high rate of
growth, is steadily integrating with the global economy and India has emerged
as a prime investment destination worldwide, it was decided to undertake an
exercise for selecting a distinct and identifiable symbol for India Rupee (INR)
like other major currencies such as US Dollar (USD), British Pound Sterling
(GBP), the Japanese Yen (JPY) and the European Union (EU) Euro.
The Symbol of Indian Rupee approved by the Union Cabinet on 15th July, 2010. The Design for the symbol was submitted by Shri D Udaya Kumar.
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