The Indian Rupee now has its unique symbol – a confluence of the Roman ‘R’ and Indian (Devanagari script) ‘Ra’. The symbol was finalized yesterday by an Union Cabinet Committee.
Uday Kumar, the designer of the symbol explains the symbol, “My design is based on the Tricolour with two lines at the top and white space in between. I wanted the symbol for the Rupee to represent the Indian flag. It is a perfect blend of Indian and Roman letters: a capital ‘R’, and Devnagari ‘Ra’, which represent rupiya, to appeal to international and Indian audiences. After working onthe design for few months, I shortlisted eight to 10 designs and then refined them further till I got this one.”
The new currency symbol will add brand value to the Indian Rupee and the economic success story it represents. As it gradually becomes a part of common usage over time, it will likely be recognized on par with the other currency symbols for the Dollar, Yen and Pound. But India would have to work on strengthening the fundamentals of its economy if it wants to sustain it as an image of growth and prosperity.
The Manmohan Singh government has a big task ahead now that it has finalized a symbol – selling it to the world. It should take up massive domestic and global campaigns to promote its use and ensure that the symbol quickly becomes a part of Unicode and computer keyboards.
I however, have only one concern – regional domestic politics. Because the symbol uses the Devanagri script (used for Hindi), there is a possibility that regional political parties of the south protest against it for neglecting the different scripts that southern languages use. If that happens and the symbol gets embroiled in petty regional politics, the entire rebranding exercise would suffer a serious setback. The GoI would have to preempt such a situation and sell the symbol aggressively to all Indians across the board.
Here’s a toast to the new Indian Rupee symbol! Hoping that it gives the Indian Rupee the brand value and boost it requires.
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