This was our entry for the 2009 competition to select a symbol for the Indian Rupee.

5. 3

7. 5

9. 7

10. Description of Symbol
® R
1+1=2
8
The symbol is derived from the Roman letter 'R', the
firstletteroftheword'Rupee',andtheDevanagariletter
‘ ', the first letter of the Hindi word ‘ ’. It also harks
back to the character ‘ ‘ of the Brahmi script from which
most Indian scripts including Devanagari and Tamil
developed. This reminds us of the long and dynamic
historyoftheRupee.
The symbol, also reminds us of the glyph '2', and its
Indian equivalent, ‘ ‘. This highlights the mathematical
synthesis of the character from the merging of two
similar letters from different script forms, as can be
described by the simplest of arithmetic equations,
1+1=2. We thus pay tribute to India as being the ancient
home of Mathematics. This also serves to reiterate the
dual role that the Rupee plays today, facilitating both
domesticandinternationaltrade.
ItalsoresemblestheexistingUnicodesignforRupee ‘ ‘
(U+20A8), and this would entail easy acceptance and
useofthesymbol bytheinternationalcommunity.
® ¯û{ɪÉä
2

11. Design Element – The Silver Ratio
a
b
b
c
b
c
d
c
b
(a/b)=(b/c)=(c/d)
=The Silver Ratio (v2+1)
2.414
c

17. 15

19. 17

21. 19
Symbol in Various sizes - II