A new symbol for the Indian Rupee

By Abhijit Menon-Sen <>

The Union Cabinet selected a new symbol for the Indian Rupee, designed by a Mr. D. Udaya Kumar of IIT Bombay. It won't actually be printed on currency notes, and of course nobody will bother to use it until it is added to Unicode, but here it is:

The Information & Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni told reporters that It is just a symbol, but it apparently allows us to join the exclusive club of countries whose currencies have a distinct identity, and somehow represents the robustness of the Indian economy (R for Robustness?) while being a blend of modernity and Indian culture.

How dreadfully silly.

I practised drawing the symbol on my whiteboard a few times, and came to the happy realisation that—if you squint at it just right—it looks like a (strangely long-necked) raptor in soaring flight, as seen from below. But maybe that's just me.