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Friday, July 16, 2010

New Indian rupee symbol launched


India has unveiled a new symbol for its rupee currency which it hopes will become a globally recognised sign, just like the dollar and its symbol $.

The rupee is currently referred to by abbreviations like Rs, Re or INR.

The Indian rupee has achieved parity with major currencies such as the dollar, euro, pound sterling and yen in one respect: it now has its own symbol.

India's cabinet on Thursday approved the adoption of the new symbol after holding a competition that drew more than 3,000 entries, which were evaluated by a deputy governor of the central bank as well as artists and designers.

The winning symbol was created by Uday Kumar, a post-graduate student at the Indian Institute of Technology.

He beat 3000 other entries to win the cash prize of 250,000 rupees ($7,388).

The symbol is an amalgam of the Indian Devanagari script Ra and the Roman capital letter R without the stem.

There are now plans to have the new symbol introduced on computer keyboards shortly and is expected to be in international use in about two years' time.

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