Indian Rupee Symbol On Computer Within 3 Months

Now that the Indian rupee has an identity, the question is: how soon will our computer keyboards start reflecting it? Very quickly, it seems. Vendors say they will roll out the symbol as soon as the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) sets the guidelines, since it takes only a minor software change to incorporate it. 

Techies say what is required is simple internal coding to assign an additional function to any one of the existing keys that currently holds a single function. The IT industry is awaiting standards from BIS on where and how the new function has to be allocated. "We are fully equipped to integrate the rupee symbol; it requires only a software code change. It would not take more than a production cycle, or about three months, once the standard guidelines for adoption of the same are introduced," said an HCL Infosystems spokesperson. 
It would be interesting to see which single-function key (Insert, Page Up, Page Down, Delete or some function key) will bear the rupee symbol. According to S Rajendran, chief marketing officer, Acer India, technically it's an almost inconsequential issue. 
"It requires some simple internal coding. We just have to tell our manufacturers to make the plastic injection moulds with the new symbol. We can bring out a changed keyboard almost immediately. But it's important that the entire ecosystem first accepts it and starts using it." Keyboard supplier Intex Technologies has launched talks with vendors to incorporate the new symbol in their products. 
"This will gain momentum as soon as we receive the authenticated design. Similarly, we have asked mobile handset vendors to incorporate the new symbol in their software," said Ramesh A Vaswani, executive VC of Intex. 

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Indian Rupee Prepared to Join Elite Club With Unique Symbol

The Indian rupee is likely to get its own unique symbol on Thursday, with the Union Cabinet set to approve the final design. With this, the rupee will join the elite league of global currencies like US dollar ($), British pound sterling, euro and Japanese yen, which have their unique symbols.

The shortlisted design apparently plays on the Hindi letter 'R' with a double-slash. The FE designers have conceptualised the design here.

Designs Selected for New Symbol

The government has already shortlisted five entries after a pan-India open contest which was advertised by the finance ministry in February 2009. According to the terms of this contest, the winning design will become the property of the government of India and the winner will have to surrender the design copyright to in lieu of Rs 2.5 lakh.

According to design experts, formulating a unique currency symbol is extremely difficult, made tougher by the requirement that it must be adaptable to computer keyboards. The design will also have to be incorporated in currency notes, which would mean asking printers abroad where the currency is printed to make large-scale investments.

"Russia too wanted a unique symbol for its currency in the 1990s. It is still looking for a symbol to represent the rouble. Designing new symbols involves rigorous testing as the symbol would be used across all technical applications apart from widespread usage on the Web, mobile phones and banners," a designer at a leading ad agency told FE.

The government decided to have a unique symbol for the Indian rupee as its abbreviated form (Rs) is also represented by the currencies of Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Last year, the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had made this announcement in his budget speech. "In the ensuing year, we intend to formalise a symbol for the Indian rupee, which reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture," Mukherjee had said then.

Courtesy: news.yahoo.com