In which year was the new currency symbol of the Indian rupee officially adopted?

The correct answer is 2010.

Key Points

• In 2010 the new currency symbol of the Indian rupee was officially adopted.
• The symbol of the Indian Rupee typifies India's international identity for money transactions and economic strength.
  • The Indian Rupee sign is an allegory of Indian ethos.
  • The symbol is an amalgam of Devanagari "Ra" and the Roman Capital "R" with two parallel horizontal stripes running at the top representing the national flag and also the "equal to" sign. The Indian Rupee sign was adopted by the Government of India on 15th July 2010.
  • The symbol, conceptualized and designed by Udaya Kumar, a postgraduate in Design from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, has been chosen from thousands of concept entries received by the Ministry of Finance through an open competition among resident Indian nationals.
  • The process of establishing and implementing this new identity is underway through various digital technology and computer applications.

Additional Information

• On 5 March 2009, the Indian government announced a contest to create a sign for the Indian rupee.
  • During the 2010 Union Budget, then Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the proposed sign should reflect and capture the Indian ethos and culture.
  • From around 3,331 responses received, five symbols were shortlisted.
  • These were the entries from Nondita Correa-Mehrotra, Hitesh Padmashali, Shibin KK, Shahrukh J. Irani, and D. Udaya Kumar:
  • one of them was due to be selected at the Union Council of Ministers of India meeting held on 24 June 2010.
  • However, the decision was deferred at the request of the Finance Minister, and the final decision was made when they met again on 15 July 2010, when they chose the symbol created by Udaya Kumar, Associate Professor IIT Guwahati.