Rupee gets new currency symbol as India gains financial clout

The obscure topic of currency symbols was hot online Thursday when India unveiled a new mark for the Indian Rupee that could be official in international financial markets. Before the new currency symbol for the rupee was announced, the abbreviations Rs, Re, or INR represented it in the marketplace. India’s Union Cabinet is expected to finalize the new currency symbol, a cross between the Roman letter R and its Hindi equivalent with a double slash, on June 24. Implementing the new rupee symbol, based on recent history with the new Euro symbol, may take a couple of years and cost billions of dollars.

Rupee’s rise calls for a new currency symbol

India, the second largest democracy within the world, was lacking a unique currency symbol in world financial markets. The Deccan Chronicle reports the new rupee symbol is the winner of a design competition to create a currency symbol representing the historical and cultural ethos of India. Confusion in world financial markets by neighboring countries that use abbreviated Rs for their currency symbol will end with the new rupee symbol, Indian officials said. The rupee may also be more tradeable in the west with a distinct identity as India strives to become one of the world’s financial leaders.

Will rupee be accepted by elite club of currencies?

Until now unique currency symbols existing only for the U.S. dollar, European Euro, British Pound, and Japanese Yen. The BBC reports that India has declared itself one of the elite world economies with its new rupee symbol. The rupee symbol contest attracted as many as 36,000 entries that a panel of artists, officials and bankers selected from. A design from a design teacher at the Indian Institute of Technology was declared the winner. The winning prize was Rs 2.5 lakh which is about $ 5,350.

Introduction of euro symbol took billions

Its costly to implement a new currency, as outlined by experts. Suite 101 reports that it is extremely difficult to design because it involves rigorous testing across a wide range of technical applications like the web, banners, and mobile phones. Plus, it needs to be adaptable to computer keyboards and a large investment is needed to print a new banknote design. When the euro symbol was introduced in 1999, the BBC article said, Europe’s biggest companies had to update computer systems to the tune of more than $ 50 billion.

More info about this topic at these websites

deccanchronicle.com

bbc.co.uk

suite101.com