On July 15, when India approved a unique symbol created by D Udaya Kumar for its humble Rupee, the desi currency swiftly joins the elite club of US dollar, UK pound, yen and euro.
Till now only four currencies in the world which are identified by a symbol and the Rupee would be the fifth one to be identified by a distinct mark.
The symbol combines the Roman letter ‘R’ and its equivalent in Devnagari—a script which is employed in Hindi and in some other North Indian languages that were derived from Sanskrit.
A new symbol for the domestic currency would not only boost India’s economic growth but also give a sense of pride to the countrymen. The man who made India proud is D Udaya Kumar, a post-graduate from IIT. Kumar’s symbol is selected by the finance ministry from over 3,000 entries it received from different part of the country. Kumar will receive a prize money of Rs 2.5 lakh for his efforts. The Kumar symbol will standardize the expression for the Indian rupee in different languages, both within and outside the country.
Kumar’s concept, an official said, is based on the Tricolour and “arithmetic equivalence”. While the white space between the two horizontal lines gives the impression of the national flag with the Ashok Chakra, the two bold parallel lines stand for ‘equals to’, representing balance in the economy, both within and with other economies of the world.
Born in Chennai , Tamil Nadu on 10 October, 1978, Kumar pursued his doctoral studies at Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay. Udaya received his Master’s degree, MDes in Visual communication from IDC, IIT Bombay and Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from School of Architecture and Planning (SAP) Anna University, Chennai. Currently he is an assistant professor in the design department of IIT-Guwahati.
Graphic design, typography, type design and design research with special focus on Tamil typography are area of special interest for Kumar. He has just completed his PhD on Tamil Typography at IDC, IIT Bombay under the guidance of Prof. G.V. Sreekumar. He has also designed a Tamil font named “Parashakti” as a mini project at IDC.
The sign, which would take about two years to replace shortened form of rupee such as ‘Rs’ or ‘INR’ (Indian Rupees) as it would need to update various software and computer keyboards, yet the Indian have began to implement it on their own.
For new symbol Kumar took inspiration from the symbols of currencies of Korea’s won, UK’s pound sterling, euro, lira, peso and others. Among international currency symbols he likes the Yen symbol as it best reflects the country. The 31-year-old bachelor worked as a designer for two years with specialty magazine publisher Infomedia.
Undoubtedly the symbol has given Rupee a new identity, now it has to be seen how the new sign improves the value of our humble Rupee. (ANDALIB AKHTER FOR AMN )