NEW DELHI: The Indian rupee will join the dollar, yen, euro and pound with its own symbol.
The new currency icon is an amalgam of the character for ''Ra'' in the ancient Devanagari script used in Hindi and the Roman capital ''R'' without the stem.
''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 favoured destination for global investments,'' the government said in a statement.
The introduction of the rupee is attributed to the 16th century ruler, Sher Shah Suri, who built the famous Grand Trunk Road from Kabul to Delhi. Until now it had been identified by the abbreviations ''Rs'', ''Re'' or ''INR''.
The Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, said he was happy that the rupee had joined the ''exclusive club of international currencies which have their own special symbols''.
The design was chosen in a competition won by Uday Kumar, a teacher at one of India's top technical universities. His symbol was selected from more than 3000 entries and he was awarded about $6250 in prize money.
The Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ambika Soni, linked the decision to choose a currency symbol to the growing significance of India to the global economy.
''The distinct symbol denotes the robustness of the Indian economy,'' she said.
The Indian government has forecast the economy to grow by 8.5 per cent this fiscal year and to accelerate to about 10 per cent within five years.
The new symbol would be adopted gradually within India and internationally over several years, Ms Soni said. It will be incorporated on keyboards manufactured in India and could eventually appear on coins and banknotes.
The symbol will standardise the expression for Indian rupee across the country's numerous language groups.
It ''reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture'', the government said.
The symbol will also help distinguish the Indian currency from other national currencies, especially those also designated as rupee or rupiah, such as Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
The leading financial daily The Economic Times used the new rupee symbol on its main front page headline yesterday.
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