India approves new symbol for its currency rupee

New Delhi: The Indian Cabinet on Thursday approved the new symbol for the Indian rupee – an amalgam of the Devnagiri 'Ra' and the Roman capital 'R' without the stem.

The symbol, designed by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) postgraduate D. Udaya Kumar, was selected from among five shortlisted symbols before the Cabinet, Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni said after the cabinet meeting. "It is just a symbol," she told reporters.

For Indians used to seeing the dollar symbol on the keyboard, this will be a welcome change. It will be just a matter of a few months for India's new rupee symbol to be a part of the software code to be easily accessible to users across the world, according to technology vendors.