Cabinet defers decision on rupee symbol

The rupee's entry into the elite club of currencies with their own symbols will take longer with the government today deferring a decision on the issue.

The Cabinet was to finalise the symbol today, but the matter was deferred after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asked for more time to go through the short-listed signs, sources said.

The issue was on the agenda of the Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here, but was deferred, sources said.

The government has shortlisted five designs for the rupee from among the symbols suggested to the Ministry of Finance by the public.

In the Budget this year, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that "in the ensuing year, we intend to formalise a symbol for the Indian rupee, which reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture".

With this, the rupee will join the select club of currencies, such as the US dollar, British pound sterling, euro and Japanese yen that have a clear distinguishing identity, he had said.

Last year, the Finance Ministry had invited design suggestions from the public for the Indian currency.

"The government of India proposes to have a symbol for the Indian rupee to be selected through public competition," the Finance Ministry had said.

The symbol, the ministry had said, should represent the historical and cultural ethos of the country as widely accepted across the country and should be applicable to the standard keyboard.