The Symbol Formally Known as Rupee

The Indian Rupee gets it's own symbol like Prince. Okay it will not be known as the currency formally know as Rupee, but it does mesh a few familiar designs.

The synonymous slash across the top is found in Sanskrit (Hindu) text. The "R" for Rupee stems from Latin texts. The slash through the middle was adopted by the Euros symbol.

Yes the Euro is considered a symbol of economic unification of Europe to fight the US dollar but this may be in limbo due to the financial crisis in various European countries. At least India, is unified with one federal government unlike Europe, so maybe the symbol has a fighting chance to be recognized as a leader of world economies?

Gurpreet Singh shows his artwork depicting the new graphic symbol of Indian Rupee Photo: EPA
From the Telegraph UK:

Until now the rupee has been denoted by the abbreviation 'Rs' or INRs to distinguish it from neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka which also have rupees.

The design was chosen in a competition won by a teacher at one of the country's Indian Institutes of Technology. Uday Kumar's design was chosen from a shortlist of five and he was awarded around £3,500 ($5,380) in prize money.

The new design will now be incorporated into India's IT systems and feature on computer keyboards.

$5,380 may not seem like that much money to design the symbol of a currency for India but it is not such a raw deal as compared to the Nike Swoosh logo.


The Nike "Swoosh" is a design created in 1971 by Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student at Portland State University. She met Phil Knight while he was teaching accounting classes and she started doing some freelance work for his company, Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS).

BRS needed a new brand for a new line of athletic footwear it was preparing to introduce in 1972. Knight approached Davidson for design ideas, and she agreed to provide them, charging a rate of $2 per hour. VIA Dinesh.com

NPR reported that Carolyn was paid a total of $20 which would amount to $104.77 with inflation. It seems that Uday did not do so bad after all. It would be a hell of a pick-up line when standing at the Thomas Cook to exchange money. "Hey Baby, see that symbol?...it's mine!"