Indian rupee to get unique symbol in 2010-2011

The Indian Rupee will this fiscal join the elite league of global currencies like US dollar, British pound and euro that have their unique symbols, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday.

"In the ensuing year, we intend to formalise a symbol for the Indian Rupee, which reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture," he announced in his Budget speech in Parliament.

"With this, Indian 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 said.

While these foreign currencies have their own unique symbols, other than their abbreviations like USD and GBP, Rupee is only referred to by the abbreviation 'Rs'. Moreover, the same abbreviated forms are also in neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka rupee.

The decision to have a symbol for Rupee was taken by the government last year. It was also decided to invite designs from the public for the new symbol. The shortlisted designers would present their designs to a seven-member jury, comprising of officials from the government and RBI as also people from institutes like J J Institute of Applied Art, National Institute of Design, Lalit Kala Akademi and Indira Gandhi National Centre.